The Bodega
by Verlotorium
Summary: (Post-GM, AU Boku no Hero) Izuku Midoriya has always been determined to become a hero. Unfortunately, although he had more than enough intelligence, determination, and force of will, he was Quirkless. Nobody believed he could be a hero, even his own mother. Just as was at his lowest point, a humble store owner with a prosthetic arm DID believe in him. Sometimes that's all it takes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : So yeah, if you followed any of my previous fics in the past, you've probably been wondering where I've been.

The truth is, I've been working on the first 7 chapters of my upcoming web serial, which I plan on dripping out once I hit 16 reserve chapters. I've been persuaded into putting this little crossover out as another writing exercise though, so yay for anyone who likes My Hero Academia and Worm.

Unfortunately for any Wormwood fans, I'm gonna have to formally declare that my other fics are on hiatus because I really want to have some original work out and going before 2019. Without further adieu - I present The Bodega, an AU My Hero Academia and Worm crossover.

* * *

 **Bodega - For those of those that don't know, a bodega is a Spanish word that translates roughly to "warehouse" or "cellar," but it's also a colloquialism in the USA's eastern seaboard for a type of convenience store unique to the region.**

 **Due to the high rent costs in northeastern coastal cities, neighborhoods in New York tend to be littered by small hole-in-the-wall mini-mart / grocery hybrids - i.e Bodegas rather than "proper", larger supermarkets.**

 **While the bodegas are no longer run primarily with Spanish-speaking owners, the name has stuck and has earned a permanent spot in the collective memory of northeastern urbanites.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The first incident came decades ago on the eve of the Golden Dawn, when cities all across the world were suddenly been enveloped by a mysterious golden and silver bubble. My grandparents had been teenagers at the time, and they could only stare in fascination when the skies across the world had glowed for hours on end with a chorus of lights.

Before too long, reports of people with superpowers popped up across the globe. No-one knew who or what was causing these "Quirks", and the supernatural quickly became the norm. Our streets began to look like scenes straight out of comic books, and dreams and nightmares alike became reality.

The world had become a superhuman society virtually overnight, and eventually, about eighty percent of the population would come to gain some sort of some uncanny superpower. As cities swirled with chaos and confusion, organizations and powerful individuals quickly rose up to seize power, seeking to rule this new world as kings.

Although things looked bleak, before too long a new class of citizens rose up to oppose these would-be warlords. Led by a group of idealists, they foiled the would-be conquerors' ambitions across the globe, restoring order to the world. Soon, a new formal profession began to dominate our collective unconsciousness.

Heroes.

Before anyone could blink, we had pivoted from complete anarchy and dominion to an Age of Heroes. A true golden age had come around, where rule of law and freedom prevailed thanks to the sacrifices and efforts of the first generation.

I, Izuku Midoriya, have always wanted to be a Hero.

For as long as I could remember, growing up in the Japanese immigrant enclave in Astoria, Queens with my parents, I have always been obsessed and enamored with the dream of being a superhero. I would sit in front of the living room computer all day watching clips of All Might's daring rescues and battles on YouTube.

Even when things seemed impossible and hopeless, All Might would wear that big brilliant smile on his face that screamed _"Things are going to be OK. Why? Because I'm here!"_ The Symbol of Peace had this comforting presence that could make anyone feel like they were safe with his presence, and there was nothing more beautiful to me.

Back when I was a little kid, I wanted nothing more than to grow up to be an amazing superhero, just like All Might.

But here's the sad reality – All men are not created equal, and never will be.

When I was four years old, I learned the hard way that some kids have more powers than others. I was born Quirkless, an ever-shrinking minority of the population that was completely powerless. For that reason, everyone told me that I could never be a Hero. Even my best friend - well, arguably _former_ best friend now, would never stop giving me grief.

The truth is that I really did know on some level that it was a pipe dream, but my mind refused to - no I couldn't grip with that reality.

I struggled, doing everything I could to prepare myself to be a Hero. I spent hours on end watching videos of every new cape that appeared, learning everything I could about heroes. I absorbed everything from legal jargon and conventions to identifying obscure, independent capes and all the strengths and weaknesses of their Quirks and habits.

However, try as I did, I could never figure out how to close the gap between me and the people who felt so close, yet so far out of reach. People who had no idea just how fortunate they were to have Quirks they could lean on.

If I was going to be honest myself, I was almost ready to give up. I was going to succeed at any cost, to take that long shot at getting into U.A, the greatest hero academy in the world. I knew on some level that my dreams were futile, but I had to try with everything I had even though I was likely to fail.

Everything changed however, with a chance encounter on the way home from school.

My name is Izuku Midoriya, and this is the story of how I became the World'sGreatest Hero.

* * *

"Stupid Kacchan..." I grumbled.

It was a normal afternoon and I had just gotten out of class. Katsuki Bakugou, being his usual self, had just ruined a solid month's worth of my cape research by setting my notes on fire and tossing it into the school fountain.

A chilly early spring breeze flowed through the air, and I shivered at the breeze, hurrying past _The Monarch,_ one of the neighborhood bodegas that I'd never gone into. The concrete sidewalk around me began to fill with the wet dots signifying an imminent spring shower. I was walking home from school in Astoria, and needed to hurry home to beat the coming rain storm, but the recent memory of Kacchan and his goons refused to leave my head.

 _' **De** fenseless Izu **ku** , this school's already a sack of shit and you want to embarrass it more by failing so hard? HA!'_

 _Deep breaths, Izuku,_ I thought to myself, but the imagery and sound of Kacchan once again telling me I was a worthless loser foolish for daring to dream wouldn't leave my mind.

' _Why don't you save us all a bit of time?' Katsuki sneered, snatching my notebook as I shouted in protest. I could only watch in disbelief as a small pop signifying an explosion consumed the book, before he casually flicked it flew out of the third floor window._

 _I scrambled over to the window and I was overwhelmed by a sense of anguish as the burnt notebook landed directly in the center of the fountain. **'Just jump off and end it already Deku. Fucking loser.'**_

"Dammit Kacchan, you can't just tell someone to kill themselves like that. What if I'd really jumped?" I muttered to myself trembling in frustration.

A moment later, the thoughts and feelings I had kept suppressed came rushing out in an uncontrollable torrent.

"Why..." I growled, kicking a tree stump in rage. "WHY?! What the fuck am I supposed to do about this?"

I probably looked incredibly sad, silly, or both kicking a random tree stump in the middle of an empty residential area in Astoria. Honestly I didn't really care if I looked like an idiot. I vented, stomping scattered branches half a dozen times and letting all my frustrations out.

I didn't care that I didn't have an umbrella and that I was starting to get soaked staying out here. Finally having an outlet for my rage felt good, and I took a moment to compose myself, trembling in humiliation for the umpteenth time.

It was hard, really hard but I managed to push my overwhelming feelings of shame and indignation down and collect myself.

 _I'm was going to be a superhero._ I huffed, breathing heavily.

 _No, I **AM** going to be a superhero._

That was the thought that I used to calm myself in these moments, and get me out of bed every day. It was a crazy dream that made things tolerable, but It was something to look forward to, something to work towards. Even if I couldn't get into U.A, the crown jewel schools all had their own hero programs and I could do it in the end. I would prove Kacchan - no, _Bakugou_ wrong in the end.

Kacchan had gone from my best friend - an all-around amazing genius and someone I looked up to through Elementary School a couple of years ago, to a vicious bully virtually overnight. I still didn't understand what caused the change, but his dickery gone on since the end of elementary school and it didn't look like he'd stop anytime soon. He always had a big head and was prone to self-aggrandizement, but the bullying had really come out of left field to me.

Suddenly, I heard distinctly heard a door slam, followed by the shuffle of footsteps coming up behind me.

"You alright there, hun?" I heard a voice call out worriedly.

I turned around, teary-faced and red-eyed, wondering who had the _wonderful_ fortune of stumbling on me at my lowest point - kicking tree stumps and everything like the worthless loser I was.

The door to _The Monarch Butterfly_ was swinging on its hinges, and a tall, pale woman with curly black hair and glasses stood behind me. She looked like she couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than me, but the way she had her green eyes furrowed in a worried, motherly frown made her look older than I'd initially thought. The woman was holding an umbrella in one hand, and clutching a yawning ginger tabby on her shoulder with the other.

Her outfit was simple - an olive windbreaker over an ugly-looking sweater, blue jeans, and strangely tacky green grandma slippers. Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out a silver gleam jutting out from under the arm the tabby was perched on.

"Y-yeah...I..." I couldn't hold it in, and the tears came out on there own. I started sobbing again, and I wasn't sure if the wetness dripping down my cheek was due to my own tears or the rain around me.

"Oh, you poor thing" she fretted, walking up to me and giving me a once-over.

"Come on Alec, down boy," she whistled, letting the tabby onto the ground, before moving up so that the umbrella was over both of us. The tabby simply glared at her, before walking back towards the bodega and shaking the rain off his fur.

"Let's get you in cleaned up and warmed up kiddo, and why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

I knew that I shouldn't accept offers like that from a stranger, but with my dad gone all the time, and my mom so prone to worrying and anxiety, I didn't really have anyone I could turn to. It probably wasn't the best call, but I made my decision in a heartbeat. I didn't know how much more I could take.

"Ok miss...miss" I sniffed.

"Mrs. Rose." she stated, "My husband has been gone for a number of years, and Rose is _sort of_ my maiden name, but I will forever and always be a Misses."

 _Husband?! She doesn't look like she's more than four or five years older than me!_

"Come on," she whispered soothingly, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Let's get some tea in you. I hope you like Dragon Well..."

Sometimes, it's the little things that affect you in a big way.

I didn't realize it at the time, but that chance encounter would change the course of my future, and ultimately, the fate of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"...So the gist of it in the end is, I've always wanted to be a superhero, but I don't have any powers. For one reason or another they've been giving me hell every day since I started middle school" I finished explaining to Mrs. Rose.

A bolt of lightning crackled across the sky, catching my attention as the rain continued to fall around us. At the same time, Mrs. Rose picked up my notebook with a gloved hand and began to look at the burn marks and ink stains in curiosity.

Alec yawned in irritation, and the ginger tabby stretched out on the spot he had settled into on the counter. He began to groom himself, and his tail swished back and forth as he stared down at us while gnawing on his fore-paws.

Mrs. Rose had seated us near the entrance with a pot of tea and paper cups, and it wasn't the cheap tea-bag kind either. No, Mrs. Rose used actual fancy leaves for this little sit-down.

"I see," she replied, taking a sip of her tea using her left hand. "So you're telling me this... Katsuki Bakugou used to be your best friend, Izuku?

"T-that's correct," I muttered while staring down at my own cup. "Then one day out of the blue, he just-"

"Stabbed you in the back and turned on you," she stated flatly with a frown.

 _Wow, harsh_. I thought to myself. I couldn't deny it was somewhat accurate though.

"That's right" I admitted.

Looking down, she began to flip through the latest volume of - well, the latest volume of what was _left_ of my notebook.

"A friendship that deep is intimate, kid. When you know each other well enough to understand all your vulnerabilities and weaknesses, it just hurts all that much more if one of you ever decides to cut the other out of your life. That applies even more so if they ever decide to _use_ that knowledge against you."

"Yeah..." I replied dejectedly, before giving my notebook a pointed look. "It isn't even the bullying in general that gets to me. It's the fact that he does things like literally **blow up my dreams and tear them to shreds."** I put a little extra emphasis on that last part.

She gave my notebook another scrutinizing look, and quirked an eyebrow upwards. My heart sank again as I followed her gaze and saw the burn marks and wet spots that still covered the notebook. Ink had seeped through and the pages were already turning wavy. I was pretty sure I was going to have to salvage this one by copying the whole thing over and probably pull half of it up from memory.

"I can relate to this kind of bullying all too well, Izuku. I had a very similar situation going when I was in high school. I even had my own notebook incident with a former best friend, except I'm pretty sure they used grape juice to trash my books. I also wanted to be a superhero back then too, you know?"

Her eyes drifted up from my notebook and became nostalgically misty.

"God, that was so long ago. Almost feels like a lifetime now."

"R-Really?" I piped up in curiosity. "You had dreams of being a hero too Mrs. Rose?!"

"In a sense" Mrs. Rose replied, mirroring smile while looking off to the side like she was enjoying her own little joke. Pushing her glasses up, she continued, "It turned out that the hero thing really wasn't for me, but I do know a thing or two about how heroes work and I did do a little preparation and training back in the day."

"So, umn, about my notebook..." I started. I was a little self-conscious about someone else reading it, and she had gotten through quite a bit of it after picking it up in my distraction. "Could I erm, have it back?"

"Just give me a sec, kiddo. Your notes are very impressive and I honestly haven't met anyone who can form profiles and analyses as comprehensive as these without the assistance of a Thinker Quirk."

"T-thanks?" I stuttered. I knew I would hate the answer, but I just had to ask...

"That means a lot to me Mrs. Rose. Do you think...do you think I could make it into U.A? Based on first impressions at least?"

"Izuku? I'll be blunt" she said, gently putting one hand on my trembling forearm arm with a serious but understanding look on her face. "As it is right now, you don't have a shot in hell of getting into U.A."

I looked down dejectedly. Everywhere I went it was the same. The very idea of someone who was Quirkless become a hero was prepos-

"- **BUT** , I honestly think you have a pretty good chance at getting in if you work for it, Izuku. The U.A entrance exam is still a year away, and I'll tell you one thing. It isn't the powers that makes a hero, it's the heart, mind, and soul. Even if you can't get into the Hero course, with your brains you'd do amazing work in the Support Department."

 _Yeah, maybe I could try getting into General Ed or support and transfer in after..._

Almost as if she were reading my mind, she poked me in my chest.

"Kid? No. Screw the support department. This is your dream we're talking about and I want you to shoot for the moon. What you need to start working on right now, above all else, is physical conditioning. It seems to me like you have amazing comprehension of heroing _knowledge_ at your age and a genuine skill for analysis right now, but you're scrawny as hell."

I gaped at her, that was what she pointed towards to and not my lack of a power.

"Yes Izuku. The biggest problem with you right now isn't a lack of a quirk. With monsters like Eraserhead and Knuckle Duster running around, the idea that a quirk will be the gamebreaker on this world is **_laughable_**. Your short term problem is that you're a little too scrawny to even think of making your way in and you really need to work on that starting today. I'm sure with the sense of drive I'm getting from you, you've gotten any written and theoretical portions of the exam to a science."

I was stunned. Mrs. Rose actually thought I could do it? Not even my own parents believed I had a chance in hell of getting into U.A. I knew it was a long shot, but Mrs. Rose spoke with such confidence that I thought that she really believed it.

She got up, walking behind the counter and began opening a couple of filing cabinets. After a couple of minutes where I stared in silence as, Alec chased his tail, Mrs. Rose walked over to me with a paperback book in hand.

"This here, is a beginners' training regimen designed by someone who was very dear to me. I want you to follow it to the letter every day for half a year, as well as hitting all the targets outlined in the nutrition plan. If you can't follow this, you have no business trying to become a hero, but I'm going out on a limb and assuming you won't let me down."

"I-I definitely won't let you down Mrs. Rose! I swear! Y-you have no idea how much this means!"

"Hey kid" she added, "If you can follow that regimen though, I'll show you a trick or two that should help you out down the road."

I was stunned. Someone actually thought I could do it? Someone who knew how things worked thought I could pull it off?!

"Anyway, if you need someone to help keep you accountable, This old lady'll be right here in this store for you. I don't do much else nowadays, so feel free to come in as often as you need to."

She walked around to my side, and beamed down on me with a very warm smile. I flinched as she lowered her left hand and pat me on the head.

I was stunned by the confidence this woman who was a total stranger seemed to place on me out of nowhere, and I sniffled, feeling tears well up in my eyes. For some reason I thought back to my mother's words the day I found out that I was physically incapable of manifesting a quirk.

 _"I'm sorry, Izuku, I wish things things were different..." my mother began to cry, and leaned forward to hug me._

You never told me, mom. Back then, the thing I wanted you to say above all else. The words that I needed to hear.

"Izuku" Mrs. Rose spoke with conviction, "Train hard, and you **CAN** become a hero."

* * *

Chapter end theme: "You Can Become a Hero" - Pick a piano cover


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter theme: Hero A

* * *

 ** **Chapter 3****

One of my phones vibrated in my coat pocket, and the Tinkertech monitor on the far end of the hall alerted me that someone had crossed onto the premises of the old warehouse. This had once been a safe-house and hideout, but now I used it as a "home" gym to stay in shape. Moments later, the main door slid open, and the screeching sound of metal echoed through the open space. Izuku Midoriya walked into the warehouse, and that familiar look of awe and excitement crossed his face as he took in the size and scope of my private training hall.

I had thought defeating Scion would be the greatest achievement of my lifetime, and if I had to be fair, it really did turn out to be the case. However, things didn't end with Scion, and I had ended up saving the world - no, not just the world. I had saved the _multiverse_ several times over in my youth and post-Scion adult career.

After more or less losing everyone I had come to love the last time around, I had retired in grief to a set of little shops and stores I purchased on this Earth. Thankfully, it seemed like it had really been the last time I would need to intervene on a multiversal scale.

Terrifying supervillains had risen up across the Earths over the years, but none that had needed my intervention. I still had the sneaking suspicion that the one who caused me to finally retire was still skulking in the shadows somewhere, but he hadn't reared his ugly head yet. We had never found a body, and if experience taught me anything, a cape was still alive if you couldn't verify the kill. If he ever did show himself though, you could bet that I had a word or two for him. Revenge was a dish best served cold after all.

Every couple of years since, I would move to a different one in a different neighborhood. Sitting in at suburban cafes and bodegas in the most culturally and intellectually diverse city in the world always made for interesting encounters and good conversations, and I really didn't have enough of that when I was too busy saving the world. Life had been peaceful if a little bit boring at times, but it was a great retirement all things considered.

Then, little Izuku had come by _The Monarch Butterfly_ screaming and crying. I was never a woman to enjoy watching little kids cry, but the part that pushed me to action was that he looked so familiar doing so, almost as if I were looking into a mirror. The kid had been on the edge, although he was clearly doing a lot better now, but the soaking notebook and best friend turned bully details were eerily uncanny to me.

Honestly, I still didn't really know what to think about little Izuku.

Three months had gone by in a flash, and summer was around the corner. Izuku had seriously impressed me with how he had managed **his** training plan without missing a single day, all while keeping his near-perfect grades up. Not only that, he had continued to expand his collection of notes on well, pretty much every cape and cape-related legislation passed in existence at an impressive rate.

The kid reminded me of **him** so much that it brought the old pains and feelings of nostalgia to the surface every time I saw Izuku. I had seen that spark in the first couple of hours he had let out his grief and frustrations to me, and hey, what could I say, I was an old lady who didn't have anything better to do than to try and cultivate that flame and see where it went.

Things were monumentally better across all Earths now that the power and information stored within Scion's dead Shards - all that remained of the entities, had largely been converted and integrated into the human genome. Things would never be perfect. Still, that was a fight for future generations like Izuku to take care of. For better or for worse, I was done.

"Miss...Misses Rose? This...w-wow!" I could see Izuku shaking across the room. The kid was sharp, sharper than most of the heroes and villains alike that I'd encountered over the years that I still wasn't convinced he didn't have a Thinker power. The kid obviously didn't know the finer details, but his keen instincts probably raised all sorts of flags over the fact that a humble Bodega owner would have a setup like this.

"Come on over kid, I don't have all day" I yelled.

The kid jogged and practically skipped his way over where I stood over a of padded mats. Although the regimen I had given him included pictures and diagrams of mobility exercises, Izuku still had a stiffness to his movements that told me this would be a rough training session.

"Umn, umn um... CanIReallyJustSayImReallyReallyGladYouBelieveInMeAndWowIsThisAnOldSchoolHideoutAndOhMyGodYouWerentJustAHeroDabblerAfterAllHolyOhmyG-"

"Breathe, kiddo" I said, putting my non-tinkertech arm on his shoulder. "Full sentences from now on, okay? I barely caught any of that."

"O-okay" Izuku swallowed. "I just wanted to say I'm really grateful that you believed in me and have given me so much advice and guidance the past couple of months."

I smiled down on him, "Look kid, your dedication and heart has seriously stirred some nostalgic feelings in me, and now that you've shown you're serious about this, I really want you to see you succeed Perusing through your notes over the last couple of months, your analysis is pretty great and you continue to impress me with every entry. There are still a couple of things you can work on here and there though."

"Thank you, Mrs. Rose" he muttered, looking down. "I've said it to you so many times that I've lost count at this point, but you don't know how much all of this means to me."

"Don't thank me yet Izuku, and make sure you keep that chin up from now on. A hero keeps his eyes on his goals, kid."

I pushed a finger up on his jaw, guiding his gaze upwards.

"Izuku, listen. I'll help you unless you show me that there isn't a point to helping you. Keep pushing in the effort that you have and that won't be a problem. Now I want you to work on that, keeping your mind focused I mean. You definitely need to throw a little bit of meditation into your routine. I take it you took my advice on Katsuki Bakugou?"

"Y-yeah" Izuku started, stroking his chin in thought. "Shut up about heroing and stay out of sight, make him think I've given up so he stops harassing me."

"That's right. You've told me that's he's a genius with an excellent power, perfect grades, and unbelievable control over his power. For that reason you should avoid his wrath whenever possible. It isn't worth the pain and grief. Keep it up."

"Thanks Mrs. Rose, I will."

"Now that brings us to what I wanted to show you today. Izuku, how well can you take a punch? Do you know how to roll with one? Have you ever been taught how to break a fall?"

"Uhhh, I've taken a lot of punches in the last couple of years. Is that kinda the same?"

"No, not in the slightest" I deadpanned, shaking my head.

Izuku opened his mouth to respond, and I launched myself at him. He flinched, covering his face, and almost lost his balance, stumbling backwards to stay on his feet. When he opened his eyes, I had an elbow an inch from his face.

"Izuku, a reaction like that is a natural response for a reason, but that's one of many things we're going to have to work on. Jog around this room and get warmed up with eight laps kid and don't tire yourself out. We're about to get started."

"Y-yes m'am!" he shouted, that familiar look of determination returning to his eyes.

There was a simple reason I didn't believe that a quirk was necessary to becoming a hero was simple. I didn't know if it was universal across all Earths affected by the event, but it seemed like every human on this Earth, including me, was capable of improving their physical abilities to easily earn a Brute 2 Mover 2 classification.

Untrained humans more or less stayed at the same levels as back on Earth Bet, but I had seen footage of capes like Eraserhead being able to clear twenty foot jumps without any physical quirks to speak of. This was unheard of for anyone without a shard on my native Earth Bet, and with enough physical training after I had arrived here, I had quickly found that I was capable of the same general physical abilities.

As Izuku turned a corner so that I was out of his line of sight, a single tear dropped from my eye. I couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic, gleeful, and sad at the same time.

 _He really does remind me of a certain someone, huh?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Taylor-Anne Rose was killing me.

The Hero Trainee Regimen Mrs. Rose had given me at the start had clearly stated that it was designed to push but not overwhelm anyone following it. However, throwing in movement and technique training with a certain thorny Rose was seriously pushing me to the edge of my limits. All I wanted to do was skip dinner and go straight to sleep at the end of every day, but the Hero Trainee program had been adamant that I get over 3500 calories a day and a minimum of seven hours of sleep.

Mrs. Rose had taken care to check through my form for the "Phase 2" portion of the training regimen which involved heavier weight loads and practical movement-based exercises such as tire flipping and sledgehammer swings. After that, she had taken me to the mats where she walked me through the basic mechanics of taking a fall and recovering to my feet. Then, she'd shown me a few common fighting stances, and the strengths and weaknesses of all of them along with versions of the classic jab-straight combo out of them. It was going to take some experimenting to figure out what I would be comfortable with, but I was jotting down everything she said during our training sessions in my notebooks. It was still a lot to take in and remember though.

 _'...Martial arts are fundamentally rooted in footwork and core movements. Without mastering breathing, footwork, and unifying full body movements, one will never...'_

I scribbled on my notebook furiously, continuing to think back to our first training session.

 _'...Narrow square stances like found in Muay Thai have excellent striking defense, lateral mobility, and set-ups for quick circular strikes but are vulnerable to takedowns and sweeps. The ability to explode forward is lost due to the low hip extension and the weight distribution. Long bladed stances like those found in Karate and Irish Boxing keep you coiled for devastating power striking but leave the vulnerable points of the leg and back wide open for strikes...'  
_  
To prove her point about footwork, she had literally drawn on the t-shirt and sweatpants she was wearing with a marker over what she called "points of vulnerability", before telling me to go all-out to try and hit her with her hands behind her back. Needless to say, I couldn't even graze those points of vulnerability with her merely moving her body out of the way and side-stepping while gently tapping me on my points whenever I overextended.

After I had reached the point where I was bent over in exhaustion, she had given me a set of movements and drills to practice in addition to my early morning run, before tossing me a set of keys to the warehouse and sending me on my way.

That had been a little over two weeks ago, and we spent my off days with here guiding me through basic falling mechanics and footwork. She did this by executing throw after throw and takedown after takedown on me until I could take the falls and get back up in under half a second.

She was unbelievable good for someone who wasn't on active duty. That very fact coupled with a warehouse that must have had a staggering maintenance cost told me that she was way more than a simple shopkeeper.

I had already rejected the idea that she'd merely "tried her hand" in being a Hero and found that it wasn't for her. Mrs. Rose was probably an actual Pro Hero or Villain who did it for five or six years, before having a sort of traumatic event where a partner or team member died. More than likely, it was her late husband who died on the job. Either that, or came to a professional disagreement causing her to leave the organization she was part of. However, I was leaning more towards the dead husband theory.

Like with any other potential cape, I had done my research on her immediately after the first training session, seeking to sate my unquenchable curiosity and need for information. As far as I could tell, there were no internet records of her ever being a hero or standing arrest records as a villain.

Public records had her born at 41 A.S[1] placing her at roughly thirty years of age. She had attended a simple neighborhood high school, before working as an employee on a fishing boat, and _The_ _Monarch_ incorporated under an LLC with a corresponding loan. There were veterinarian records for Alec the ginger tabby over the last three or four years, but other than that, her profile was a blank slate. It was too clean, and a bit suspicious too. Mrs. Rose also definitely didn't have a New York accent, if I had to place it, it seemed like it was more New England, maybe Boston or urban Connecticut.

Another possibility was that Taylor-Anne Rose was an alias she used. I was starting to consider that my newfound mentor was a major retired supervillain with a traumatic past, but that seemed so bizarre to me. She was just so kind, encouraging, and quiet-loving that it seemed impossible to me that she was a serious supervillain. If she had any inclinations towards supervillainy, it didn't look like she was active either. The woman practically spent all day reading books out of a rather impressive collection behind the counter when she wasn't running a crazy exercise routine at the warehouse.

She had a couple of hired hands she had to deliver food and stock shelves for her, but as far as I could tell, I had never seen anything that looked out of the ordinary when I paid my daily visit in the morning. Nor my daily visit after school, nor during my nightly visit after finishing my homework for that matter.

"Mister Midoriya," a baritone voice suddenly spoke next above me.

I turned around sheepishly, only to see Mr. Eisenberg, my homeroom teacher looking down on my notebook disapprovingly. While I was lost in my thoughts, I had begun filling out a cape profile for Mrs. Rose just like I had for just about every known Hero and Villain in North America, and the major ones on an international scale.

Mr. Eisenberg knew I had a bullying problem, but he probably figured just like the rest of the kids that I had finally given a rest to my whole Hero dream. Rather, in his mind, it wasn't a dream, but just childhood 'silliness'.

He opened his mouth to say something, but quieted down, thankfully deciding it was better not to re-ignite the whole teasing and bullying thing. He just shook his head at me, gesturing for me to put it away, and I sheepishly complied.

"With the end of the school year" Mr. Eisenberg said, "I hope you've all put a bit of thought and consideration into high school. I know the gauntlet of magnet and specialized high school exams don't start until well into the winter, but you should all have your top choices narrowed down by the end of summer so that you can spend the first term of eighth grade preparing for your applications."

Silence fell across our home as most of the students either ignored Mr. Eisenberg outright or looked at him with indifference.

"Kids, please do take this seriously, won't you? It was different when I was your age, but after the vocational reforms the program you attend will have a massive effect on the career opportunities provided to you after you graduate. If you don't prepare adequately starting now, you might end up missing out on a ton of prospects. Now, one by one, stand up and tell the classes what your top choices are, one by one, and how you're going to prepare this summer. Let's start with...Abdullah Abadi on the front row and go around clockwise."

I gulped as he started going around the room, and the kids largely started rattling off programs involved "Robotics", "Marketing", "Standard Education", "Performing Arts", and so on.

A couple of higher-achieving students were aiming for corresponding programs in specialized programs like Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech's Tinkertech analysis programs, Queens Science's hero logistics programs, and so on.

What would I say hen he got to me? Mrs. Rose's advice to keep my head down had done wonders for my mental and emotional well-being the past couple of months. I had never actually explicitly said that I wouldn't still be aiming for UA's Hero Program. If I said that I wasn't going to go to UA out loud, it would be like accepting and admitting I didn't have a shot at it or aspirations to get in.

"Izuku Midoriya," Mr. Eisenberg called out, "Which program will you be applying for next year and how are you going to prepare?"

I stood up trembling for a bit, but this time it wasn't out of fear or uncertainty, it was out of resolve.

"Mr. Eisenberg? I definitely plan on going through U.A Academy's Hero Program to become a superhero. As for how I'm going to prepare for my application? Well, let's just say I've put my money where my mouth is and I'm working around the clock on it when I'm not in school."

As predicted, incredulous laughter and whispers of disbelief started brimming around the room and Mr. Eisenberg shook his head disapprovingly. I winced as I heard a loud series of pops, kind of like a firecracker going off as I predicted, and the familiar sound of Katsuki Bakugou's voice filled the room.

"DEKU. Wow. Seriously. Fucking Deku. You are unbelievable" Kacchan growled, small explosions filling his palms. "Here I thought you were smart enough to have finally learned your fucking place in the world."

For some reason that I never understood, Bakugou took my aspirations as a personal insult. I used to be sad that he would put me down like that, but strangely, I barely felt it this time.

"Settle down Mister Bakugou! You know the rules, no power use in school, and please watch your language" Mr. Eisenberg barked at him. "Izuku please be reasonable. I know I said your top school, but by that I meant a program you could viably enter. U.A has the single most competitive hero program and corresponding support roles in the entire world, and there are only forty seats within each branch of the academy annually. No student has ever been accepted into the school without a quirk much less the actual hero program."

Laughter and jeering filled the classroom once more, but my expression and posture didn't waver.

Mr. Eisenberg sighed, "This is why I wanted to have this discussion with the whole class before letting you go for the summer. Having dreams is fine kids, but when it comes to your career prospects you need to be firmly grounded in realism. You need to prepare for another school, Izuku. Your grades are perfect and you're incredibly clever, but there's no way U.A will ever accept you. Being smart isn't enough to be a hero, and as your homeroom teacher I need to do my best to prepare you for the future."

"You're right that a quirkless student has never been accepted into UA before, Mr. Eisenberg, but just because there isn't a precedent doesn't mean it can't happen."

A familiar scene of ridicule played out before me, one that I hadn't seen for a couple of months. The last couple of times, I would scream that I would be a hero out of protest against their jeering, but this time it was different. I was completely unfazed. I didn't understand why, but it was a great feeling.

"Izuku," Mr. Eisenberg pleaded, "You're a smart kid. There's nothing stopping applicants from taking the exam without a quirk, but you do NOT have the same shot of getting in as someone with a power. If you overprepare for this you won't have any time to prepare adequately for the other first tier schools in this city. Don't throw your future away."

"We're done here," I stated angrily, throwing my backpack over my shoulders.

School was out for the summer, and there was nothing keeping me in the room for this public lynching. Well, there was also the problem of Bakugou's anger management issues and nothing good could come from staying to suffer their ridicule.

"Mr. Eisenberg, you've treated me well and I know you're saying this from a position of concern, but I am adamant about U.A. The rest of you? Have fun with your little circlejerk here and piss off."

I stormed angrily out of the room, eyes burning as Mr. Eisenberg sighed in exasperation and continued to go down his list, calling out students and discussing their aspirations with them. I had no idea what came over me there, but I had never felt so angry in my life.

Someone did believe in me, and I wasn't going to let her down.

...But I really, REALLY, wasn't looking forward to coming back after the summer.

Oh god, why the hell did I just do that?

* * *

(1) - A.S - "After Singularity" - The singularity marks the year when quirks began manifesting en masse, and the start of a brief era of strife for humanity worldwide.

I wanted to show a bit of Taylor's influence in that last line. Telling people to piss off might be overdoing it a little with canon Izuku but I'm rolling with it.  
Izuku's core personality will remain intact but Taylor's influence will definitely be shown.


	5. Chapter 5

****Chapter 5****

I sat in _The Monarch Butterfly_ with a protein shake in hand, shaking in anxiety, worry, and anger, holding back tears while filling out my training schedule for the summer. Although my mother didn't honestly believe I had any prospects trying to get into a hero program, she was still my world and I was hers, and we loved each other dearly. After seeing me clearly commit to training, studying, and preparing for the hero course, she had wanted to do everything in her power and our socioeconomic means to support my dream.

My mother had found my copy of the plan after the first month, and went out of the way to surprise me with most of the suggested supplements and training aids the Hero Trainee Regimen had recommended, from grip trainers, joint guards, and weighted vests to quality-tested protein powder and electrolyte powder. I had learned to mix most of the micro-nutrients the Hero Trainee Regimen into one large protein shake, which I made my way through every day.

I never blamed mom, but she'd always felt guilty about her "weak" quirk of pulling small objects to her and my lack of one. Seeing my determination to make my dreams come to fruition, she was doing her best to support me. The incident I had walked away from had increased my resolve to get into U.A, but even then, my mind was still stuck on my final moment of impulsiveness in homeroom.

 _WhatthehellwasIthinkingwhatthehellwasIthinkinghatthehellwasIthinking. I was never the type to burst out like that. Way to go Midoriya, the entire grade ah the school is going to find out and now you've antagonized Kacchan and oh my god you told everyone to piss off and—_

"Agh!" I shouted as someone suddenly flicked me on the forehead with her finger. "W-w-what?"

"You're hyperventilating and muttering to yourself with a scary look on your face kid. By my estimates, you also stopped breathing about half a minute ago too" she stated flatly. Then, she slapped a deli sandwich on the cafe table before taking a seat next to me. "Now eat up, it's on the house. You can tell me what's troubling you if you feel like it."

"Mrrrowwww~" Alec meowed, once again staring down at me from the shelves as I got scolded by Mrs. Rose.

Trying and failing to swallow down my hurricane of emotions, I began to stutter, struggling to get my words out.

"I-I-oh god-I, umn...ohnononomesseduphomeroominsultedeveryone."

She gently put her hand on my shoulder again, and looked me in the eye.

"Stop. Close your eyes."

I tried to oblige, closing my eyes. What was this supposed to do for me? I was a dead man walking when summer ended.

"Try to push the bad feelings away, Izuku."

I focused on pushing my worries and thoughts away to no avail. There was just too much there.

"Breathe deep and try to grasp it. Imagine nothing. Emptiness. Space. Listen to me Izuku. Breathe, then imagine them going away."

I breathed deep, pushing the memory of me standing up and virtually spewing a line right out of Kacchan's playbook to my peers. Without a fraction of his talents to back it up. Why did I do it? It was so stupid. I pulled on the stupidity, there was no reason, nothing at all, zip, empty. I pushed the thought to the wayside. There.

It lingered on the edge of my thought, but I'd successfully emptied my mind. Nothing. I breathed again, settling down and relaxing in my chair.

"Have you pushed the thoughts away?"

"Y-yeah..."

"But they're still there, aren't they? At the edge of your mind."

I nodded, eyes still a little red and sore from holding back tears earlier.

"Good, now again...breathe Izuku, then gently tug on the thoughts lurking at the edge of your mind. Identify the circumstance that has you worked up like this. Instead of focusing on what's happening, picture what has happened as vividly as you can, like you're reporting it for an article online. This time, you are a spectator watching it. You're not standing in the middle of it all, you're watching it from the view of a silent observer."

I breathed again, thinking about the scene that played out from the view of a shadow spectator. Midoriya didn't have a fraction of Kacchan's power. There's no way his classmates would tolerate it. No, Midoriya gets shoved around a lot, almost everyone is involved, but wasn't he a little sad proclaiming he was going to be a hero while doing nothing about it? Pathetic even. I was stupid. Midoriya was stupid. I was angry. Midoriya had reason to be angry.

Mrs. Rose had taught me to stand up and run from fights I didn't have to pick if possible, and to only strike back if I was cornered. I had felt cornered there, but I had lashed back so often in the past as an insecure brat with learned helplessness. But wasn't it reasonable? Midoriya got a lot of flak, he's been quiet about it for a while. Looks like he's been working hard on it. Does he have a shot? Probably, probably not. Who knows.

"Now, start writing how whatever has you like this makes you feel. Write it as if you were experiencing it as it happened, and then again from the perspective of an outside observer."

Listening to her calm, motherly voice, I began to scribble away, jotting down the stream of conscious thoughts that had passed by moments before.

"These feelings are your feelings, happening inside your body as you remember the pain Izuku. You have a choice in how you interpret and respond to the emotional turbulence caused by people who want to keep you down. Recognizing this is taking responsibility for your feelings. As a hero, you must learn to take responsibility for your emotions as well. Other have wronged you, but you are in control of how it makes you feel. You do not need to depend on anyone else to make it go away. Breathe again. Feel the parts of your body that are tense and aching because of these thoughts."

I breathed again, the scene frozen in my mind.

"Now, release. For the next 30 seconds, feel the painful sensations leaving your body with each breath. Focus on each aching part independently."

She moved over behind the counter as she told me to do this, then gently tugged me on the sleeve as I finished breathing. She ripped the page I had just jotted down, before leading me over to the sink, she put a butane torch in my hand and the page in the other.

"Now, take the torch and burn this page, then imagine the pains caused by the thoughts on the page burning away.

I took the torch, and pulled the trigger, lowering the flame to the page full of all my negative emotions and lit it on fire, watching it crumble away as it landed in the sink. Alec hissed hissed in fear, and dove into a row of packaged processed snacks, hiding from the open flame.

I stared at the embers, still thinking of my classmates laughing and jeering at me, but at the same time, I thought of the ridicule literally burning away.

Symbolically clearing these emotions seemed to help, strangely. A lot. The thoughts were still in my mind, but now I could think about it with a clear head, although it still nagged at me a little.

"Whatever happened has happened, Izuku, has happened. Eyes on front."

I looked up to meet her eyes, still breathing a little heavily from the hurricane of emotions I'd just gone through.

"S-sorry about that Mrs. Rose. It's just, my homeroom teacher went around the room today asking us all where we were applying to high school and I answered honestly. The other kids reacted as expected."

"Hmmmm," she stroked her chin, "I think I understand. You've worked so hard the past couple of months, and to suddenly have the spotlight on you, challenging your dreams and aspirations, it must have been overwhelming since it hasn't been the norm for a while. I talked about meditation and breathing the first time we met kid, but it's maybe time we put that in practice actively. You have a sharp head and have the best possible physical regimen going, but we obviously can't neglect..."

She poked me in the chest, "Our emotions. I made that mistake once, and let's just say I can't think about eighteen much less sixteen year old me without a bit of discomfort at how I handled mine."

"You?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't imagine Mrs. Rose crumbling apart and swinging wildly like I did. It was unthinkable.

"Look kid," she started, "I'm sorry for not coming to this sooner. From now on, every day before bed, I want you to practice doing what we just did, minus the burning part. Focus on your negative feelings, clear them for a moment so that you can think clearly, then slowly accept them. Wrestle with them the best you can, and confront them instead of simply shoving them to the side. Then, I want you to articulate how they're making you feel in a journal. For most of us our greatest enemies are ourselves, and speaking from experience, this can really sneak up on you if you don't resolve it. I want you to do this at least three times a week Izuku."

"T-thanks Mrs. Rose" I muttered, still teary-eyed. "I'll pencil it into my schedule. I...I should probably start heading back."

"I'll see you tomorrow kiddo, and get some rest. You've got a long road ahead of you."

Thanking her once again, I bowed, Japanese style like my parents always taught me even though it made me feel a bit silly, and packed my notebook and the sandwich she had made me into my backpack. Making sure I had all my things on me, I began to head home for the evening.

Mrs. Rose was right. I really did have a long road ahead of me, and without a quirk, I had to work ten times as hard as anyone applying for U.A, and they were already the cream of the cream of the crop. Even if I didn't get it in (which wasn't something I was going to let happen) I was still going to give it my all. No, I wasn't going to give it my all. I WAS GOING TO GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!

And just like that, my summer of absolute hell began.

* * *

A/N: It's a shounen crossover, but the fic isn't running purely off shounen logic. At the same time, don't expect anything NEARLY on the level of Worm in terms of cynicism or for Midoriya to turn into a weapons grade edgelord or anything.


	6. Interlude 1 - Katsuki Bakugou

**Interlude 1: Katsuki Bakugou**

Izuku Midoriya was a kid that seriously pissed me off sometimes.

The two of us went way back, so I guess that was probably why the kid caused me to blow up like no-one else could.

I thought the kid had finally come to terms with the fact that he was quirkless. Seriously, it seemed like he finally understood that he was destined to cheer from the sidelines while, you know, the REAL heroes saved the day.

For a month or two, Deku had finally quieted down about being a quirkless hero and it seemed like - _holy thank fucking god -_ he finally got it and learned to shut the fuck up! Then, out of the blue on the last day of school, it turns out he still he had this ridiculous idea in his head that he actually had a shot at U.A. What a fucking riot.

You might've been able to call us friends a couple of years ago, but honestly, I could admit that familiarity breeds resentment. I hated that earnest look on his face now, although it was admittedly the tiniest bit refreshing when we were kids. I hated the fact that he was always there to see my weakest moments with that stupid optimistic smile and a hand outstretched to help. I hated his delusion, that he could actually become a superhero without a quirk when even people with strong quirks were fighting for their lives every day.

The dumbass had always been pretty straightforward about his intention to become a Pro Hero, despite how obviously useless he would be without a quirk. I mean, I wasn't the only one who gave him shit for that kind of unreasonable delusion, but he'd always react to it with a nervous smile and sometimes a shout or two of protest. He'd shy away uncomfortably at the jeering, maybe weakly mutter about how there was nothing that'd stop him from trying until everyone got bored, then walk on.

The most pathetic thing about it all was that he did absolutely fuck all about it after it started in middle school, except continue driving his nose into a book and jotting down _yet another_ set of his stupid fucking notes. A hero didn't just sit there and take it like a little bitch, never fighting back. If you were an ass-clown loser dumb enough mess with the society around a real hero, much less the hero himself, the hero would find a way to take the win over your sorry ass and make sure the shenanigans stopped.

Heck, I'd totally understand it if it were just me, Katsuki Bakugou. Brains, looks, powers, and a work ethic, I had it all, and there would be abso-fucking-lutely nothing Deku could do if I were a murderous psychopath and wanted him dead. But no, fucking Deku let my mouthbreathing sycophants who had piss useless quirks push him around. I was the guy destined to become the most kickass superhero of our generation, but those guys? They couldn't see they were mediocre and almost as pathetic as Midoriya.

The matter of fact is, you didn't take down a mean, bad mother fucker of a city destroying supervillain down by writing things down in a notebook. It was all fun and games to play pretend sometimes, but when the meanest fuckers come around, you bring them down with a fucking metric kiloton of ordinance. You know, the type of stuff I trained myself to pull out and produce on a whim. Literal kilotons. Although, pushing myself to that point would probably overcome my power's natural defenses and fuck me up real good, but that was besides the point.

Something bothered me about the whole shitshow in the classroom though - Deku hadn't stuttered. He hadn't mumbled. The ridicule that would usually make him flinch had also rolled completely off him, behind a veil that I couldn't penetrate despite well I knew him.

Yeah, it was true that Deku had never given up on his delusions of becoming a hero, but that focus? The stoic delivery? He had done it all without fidgeting or sulking for once. Deku had effectively told the room to piss off and to shove it.

It was obvious something had obviously changed in Deku the last couple of months. At first, I didn't know if he gave up and reignited that delusion, or if he just realized piping down about his delusions was better for his accumulating rib fractures, but shit, this would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.

Who knows, maybe Deku would actually think up enough tricks on the practical portion of the exam to get into the Support Program if he put his mind to it. Not that I'd ever admit it to his face, but apart from the whole quirkless superhero delusion, Midoriya had a decent head on his shoulder, almost as good as mine with a knack for thinking abstractly.

Regardless, there was a U.A branch in every **α** -tier global city, but there were only forty Hero slots for the entire region. Only the best of the best would get in, and there was only one student from this joke of a junior high that would get into U.A New York's hero program.

His name of course, was Katsuki Bakugou.


	7. Midoriya's Notebook Entry: Explosion

**Cape Profile - Codename "Explosion"**

Real Name: Katsuki Bakugou

Quirk: Explosion

 **Brief Summary**

Power Output: Very High

Intelligence: High

Technique: High. Terrifyingly talented.

Mobility: Above Average

Durability: Average

Cooperativeness: Low

 **Analysis**

Kacchan's quirk allows him to sweat a potent, unknown analogue of nitroglycerin, a "nitro-sweat", and detonate it at will to create explosions with high mass-energy conversion rates. The more Kacchan sweats, the stronger his explosions become. As a result, a battle of attrition will be a dangerous game for any opponent.

Katsuki is capable of using small, powerful explosions from his hands to not only blast his target, but to propel himself and navigate through the air as well. He suffers from the impact of his explosions due to his recoil, but due to some unknown property of his power, he is shielded from much of the impact despite being propelled by the force generated.

It is easy to miss due to his crudeness and explosive temper, but Kacchan is a genius in multiple respects, and combines his talents with an impressive work ethic to achieve his goals. He will stop at nothing to "win", whatever the victory condition is in his mind.

 **Countermeasures**

Aside from the obvious problem with working in cold climates, there is a key weakness to the Explosion quirk itself I am hesitant to suggest exploiting, as well as personal habits unique to Kacchan that are presently exploitable.

To start, Kacchan has a noted psychological preference for charging straight on at his obstacles, but this should be taken in caution because he is extremely capable of preparing and executing elaborate improvisations on the fly. In addition, his temper is both one of his worst weaknesses and greatest strengths. He can be forced into making rash, detrimental decisions, but this is a risky proposal at even the best of opportunities. Angering him will both increase the rate he sweats and increase his motivation for overcoming an obstacle.

Kacchan and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and have known each other since we were very young children. In most physical activities, he will lunge forward favoring his right side. When observing his playground brawling, I have noted that he favors a leading overhand right punch in almost every instance, which he will try multiple times until he either gets frustrated or successfully lands it.

Lastly, in the event Kacchan ever does go rogue, it should be noted that although his power does provide a measure of protection, he is highly vulnerable to the explosive feedback created when using his power in the presence of flammable gasses. There have been numerous childhood incidents where he has ignited fumes from Ethers, Acetones, and Alcohols by accident, resulting in minor burns. Presumably, this would also apply to more aggressive substances with stronger exothermic reactions and low activation energy requirements.


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I sprinted, weaving through crowds of pedestrians and earning angry shouts all along the way. I spotted a fire escape in the coming alleyway that had a dumpster beneath it, and I turned into the alleyway, quickly pulling myself onto the dumpster. Taking a short sprinting start, I hopped across the dumpster and jumped for the edge of fire escape, barely catching onto the edge and pulling myself up. Then, I took the stairs on the fire escape, running up a couple of flights to the top of the current building.

Running to the back of the building, I stepped back, then leaped across the small gap to the next roof and landed in a somersault downwards. Thankfully, the route I'd quickly mapped out wasn't too bad for my current skill level.

I ran, somersaulting and clearing the rooftop to the next one over and mentally cheered myself on. Four months of hardcore training with optimized nutrition schedules had beaten me into pretty decent shape. I was still a beginner at all and by no means near ideal fitness levels for someone who wanted to be a superhero, but I was strong enough to start learning in an advanced trick or two. I couldn't stress how phenomenal of a feeling all of that was for to a kid who'd grown up completely powerless.

One of the best suggestions in Phase 2 had been to use my newfound strength to train in freerunning and parkour on the weekends, and incorporate movement drills in the warmups of every training session. My mentor had stressed that being able to _move_ was the most important part of any hero's physical skillset, and that being able to pick your battles and reaching disasters on time was invaluable to any wannabe hero.

I definitely saw the merit in that logic, so I made sure to go around to different neighborhoods and create impromptu parkour routes every weekend. These little exercises also had the added benefit of helping me understand the layouts of different neighborhoods as well as the city itself a little better.

Speaking of which…

Loud crashing noises rang out in the near distance, and I peered up over the edge of the roof I'd found myself on excitedly. North America's ranked #2 hero, Endeavor, was currently battling a B-list supervillain duo, Hammer and Sickle, that had just robbed the flagship branch of a jewelry store based in Chinatown. Endeavor had been pursuing the supervillains around the lower east side for the better part of an hour, right around the time when I would normally be training. Blue flames periodically shot into the air a couple of blocks over, and I knew I was getting close. I was desperate to see Endeavor's actual capture in action.

Although Endeavor had a reputation as a pompous but ultimately skilled and professional hero, I had never seen him in action myself. The insights I would get from seeing him on the job would provide a healthy addition to my notes, and I could never have enough information. Chinatown had some of the best free-running training routes in the world, and the battle was close enough that I could get to it in a few minutes.

I had actually wanted to get to the battle the old-fashioned way, but civilians were flooding the streets while clearing the area, and the police were also sealing off ground-level perimeter, directing traffic away. I didn't want to deal with any of their questions over the fact that I was a quirkless, underage civilian charging TOWARDS an active cape scene, so taking the scenic route made sense to me.

I looked over the ledge again, scanning the area, and noticed an awning on the edge of the building. I quickly visualized the route in my head, and made up my mind on how I was going to do this. I dropped off the edge and slid down using the awning, before pushing off the wall with a powerful kick. I soared through the air, and executed a side-roll landing safely on the next building over.

Running across the next roof, I palmed the foam grenade my teacher had given me, before jumping off ledge. I hung in the air for what seemed like ages, gripping the lifeline on my belt until my knuckles were white, and let go once I was sure I had enough momentum to clear it, landing on the final roof over the action with a somersault.

 _Success!_

I REALLY wasn't looking forward to the moment where I'd screw up judging the distance on a jump and actually have to pop one of these. I was scared enough of heights and cramped spaces as it was, and the idea of dropping to the ground in a block of claustrophobic yellow foam, unable to see anything, made my skin crawl. That, and I also had to put my trust in tinkertech that came out of a stash that had reportedly been in preserved storage for many years.

After hopping this final roof, I took a moment to catch a much-needed breather. I was finally close enough to the action that I was well within the established police perimeter. Buildings in this part of town hung low compared to the skyscrapers you saw midtown, thankfully so, and getting around the buildings and back down wouldn't be much trouble.

Deciding I was close enough to the action, I bolted forward into the rooftop entrance. I glanced around and I was thankful that the elevator was one of those modern high speed ones. One of them was only a floor below on the 8th floor, so I hit the button. The elevator dinged up and doors opened almost instantly, greeting me with some of the most cliché elevator music I'd ever heard. I sidestepped in, hitting "lobby" before bending over and letting go of my tension, breathing deeply to finally catch my breath.

In less than five seconds, the elevator cleared the floors and dinged into the lobby. I sprinted out onto the street, causing the guard manning the front desk to jump in alarm. I rushed out onto the street, and car horns blared loudly in my face as I nearly cut off an escaping BMW that honked at me. The car braked in front of me, but I just kept going and vaulted over the hood of the car. I was light enough that I wouldn't scratch it anyway, for now at least.

 _'Training with your small size while you can will go a long way, Izuku. I'll think of more ways to use that to your advantage until you grow into your full adult size.'_

The idea that my body would practically mutate in the next couple of years was distressing enough, but I'd been told repeatedly that it was the best time to learn all these techniques so I guess I was just going to have to make the best of it.

Crossing into the avenue over, I pivoted around the corner, and finally came into the visual range of the action. Endeavor and The Almighty were squaring off three blocks away, and the last group of about eighteen civilians were abandoning their cars and fleeing the scene towards my direction.

I made a start to find a high angle to close in safely again, only to hit the deck reflexively as Endeavor aimed a volley of fireballs towards the towering Hammer, which flew down towards my direction.

 _What the heck was that?!_ I mentally screamed, before scrambling back onto my feet.

In the distance, I could see Endeavor and a large cape squaring off in the middle of the streets. They continued to mouth off to each other, but I was too far away to really make out what they were saying with all the stragglers fleeing the scene. I couldn't believe how reckless Endeavor was being while continuing to mouth off to the cape he was fighting. The streets weren't packed, but they weren't exactly clear either, and those fireballs I'd avoided had nearly caught a couple of people square.

It was incredibly rash, coming from a high-ranking pro hero Endeavor, and I struggled to wrap my head around it for a moment. I expected way more from a Pro Hero held up second only to All Might in ability and skill. Heck, he was probably the most powerful Emitter, Blaster, and Shaker of his category on an international scale, no less. I was uncertain on precisely how to feel about narrowly avoiding getting barbecued by Endeavor, but it definitely wasn't a good feeling.

Deciding it was way too dangerous to stay on the ground level after all, I eyed another fire escape on an alleyway to my left nearby. I ran down the alleyway, catching the edge of a window on standing jump. Balancing myself on the windowsill, I jumped across to catch yet another fire escape ladder, before making my way up to the rooftops yet again. I jumped over ventilation units, pipes, and everything in between, and I jumped, closing the last two blocks away from the action.

 _It's an inferno here, oh my god._ Even up in the roofs, I could feel the sheer intensity of the battle, mostly from Endeavor.

Hammer and Sickle was a duo consisting of a pair of notorious communist terrorists that had managed to remain at large for several years. Despite the best efforts of countless pro heroes across the world, they had so far evaded capture and accountability for their countless crimes. Both had racked up a rather impressive bounty between them, and anyone who successfully captured them would earn themselves or their team considerable prestige and a hefty payout. There was a pretty considerable crowd, mostly the families of small business owners, bankers, and corporate executives that wanted to see them stand trial in their native Ukraine. Well actually, most of them just really wanted to see Hammer & Sickle's heads on a pike in general.

It didn't surprise me at all that a high-achieving A-lister like Endeavor would be on the hunt so quickly. The two supervillains were virtually iconic to communist revolutionary circles, and I could firmly place them high up on the B-list. Their matching red hooded masks and stylized yellow and red Soviet commissar uniforms were recognizable to anyone who kept up with what was going on in the cape world.

What did surprise me on the other hand, was the sheer amount of literal firepower being tossed around the scene. It was clear to anyone who had read up on him that Endeavor was taking this very seriously.

The wreathe that he used as a sort of flaming armor was a ghostly yellow-orange, almost bright white in intensity. Anything within ten meters of him was visibly turning into slag or popping and shattering from the sheer amount of energy carried by his power's heat convection. The number of cars, windows, and secondary being destroyed by the very presence of the capes was going to earn some landlord a considerable Superhero Insurance payoff, and it was a jaw-dropping spectacle that I couldn't help gawk at. I'd chased my share of captures by capes such as Lakota Woods, the Bayside Bugler, and Best Jeanist, but this was on another level.

Quirks were tied to the mental control and physical capabilities of the individuals that held them, and it was clear at first glance that I was witnessing true masters of their craft at work.

The battle raged on, and I closed into listening range. Hidden in my spot on the roofs, I pulled my notebook out of a bag and started scribbling down as many details as I could.

Hammer growled as she continued to charge at Endeavor, batting another volley of fireballs out of the way with her signature tinkertech sledgehammer. The tall, Amazonian woman was very skilled, and was visibly pulling herself forward and repositioning with the momentum of every swing.

Sickle blurred, and the wiry speedster zoomed behind to flank Endeavor from a 45 degree angle. He spun one of his custom chained kamas, letting it drag out into an arcing swing towards Endeavor's neck, but a flare of heat redirected the kama and caused Sickle to step back. He blurred away and back onto the sidewalk, eyes scanning frantically for another opening from Endeavor.

The moment of distraction from Sickle's attack was enough to create an opening for his partner however, and Hammer jumped in with a burst of her Quirk. She raised her weapon, smashing it down in a arcing overhead swing with a loud grunt of effort. Endeavor simply sidestepped it, before drawing a baton and channeling his power through it into a solid sheath of plasma. Hammer continued to ride the momentum from her initial swing, bouncing into a back swing only to clash with Endeavor's plasma baton.

"How fortunate that we finally clash like this, Endeavor" Hammer snarled, loud enough for anyone still in the area to hear. "We have long sought to bring you to bear for your crimes against the common people. It must be fate that you are the one who responded to our presence first."

Sparks flew from their clash for a moment, and Endeavor struggled, redirecting the rest of the hammer's momentum away to the side and firing a full blast of flame directly in Hammer's face. He dispelled the plasma emitting from the baton, and Endeavor used the force of his flame burst to propel himself backwards by a good number of yards.

"Please. You two have some serious gall rattling on and on about me like this," Endeavor drawled, posturing up from their last exchange. "Here I'd thought I would be able to clean this up quickly enough that I could get some paperwork done."

"Oh you are such a hero, Endeavor," Sickle proclaimed sarcastically on top of a street lamp, "I wonder what the people would think if more of them knew what their hero was a wifebeating narcissist, away from the smiles and victorious poses presented to them by Imperialist propaganda."

"Hold on for a minute, we need to get something clear." Endeavor retorted calmly, holding one hand up.

I noticed him move his other hand off to his side, behind the flames he was generating and out of sight. An orange flame appeared in his hands, and began to rotate inwards until it was a solid, orange-white light.

"You run around the world smashing up fashion stores, jewelry stores, stores of cash, and vehicle shops in high-end neighborhoods, before maiming or murdering the owners regardless of personal character. Then you and your henchmen distribute the monetary contents to vagabonds in neighboring cities before disappearing into the night. Yet you do this without putting any thought or consideration of the damage you leave in your wake. Mrs. Chu is going to be in a wheelchair for life, if her business even survives that long, and she has done absolutely nothing to deserve what you two did to her today."

"Nothing?" Hammer hissed, "The woman owns NINE homes in these capitalist shithole citiesthanks to her chain of jewelry stores, all while most of her employees continue to go without insurance and barely live off of miserly pay."

The orb of condensed energy was almost smooth and white at this point, and Endeavor continued to talk, playing up to their strong beliefs and need to justify them. It looked like Endeavor had picked this up rather quickly, most likely from banter exchanged before I'd arrived.

Endeavor shrugged condescendingly, "It boggles my mind that the two of you preach all this, but fail to realize you simply despise the well-off and rich far more than you genuinely care for bettering the lives of the poor and downtrodden.

"Sacrifices must be made for the sake of true change," Hammer answered coldly. You could practically see her seething in anger. "The revolution begins at the roots."

Endeavor simply walked up to her slowly, blasting a torrent of fire out at Sickle when he raised a bladed boomerang to throw.

"You've left her business in shambles and Sickle there has maimed her for life, not exactly something easy to get up from. Without even getting into the trail of other bodies you have left in your wake, have you put any thought into how Mrs. Chu's employees will get health insurance now?"

Hammer postured to respond again, but Endeavour stepped forward until he was roughly ten paces away.

"I've drawn this out long enough. The amount of damage you and your partner have wrought in the name of this crusade has cost good, law-abiding citizens across the world countless amounts of blood. This is where you meet your maker, Anastasia Sokolovsky."

Endeavor brought his hidden hand up, and the flames wreathing Endeavor shifted to a ghostly blue. In the blink of an eye, a massive blue and white cone surged out from Endeavor, swallowing Hammer in a torrent of all-consuming, blue-hot fire.

"NO!" Sickle shrieked in panic, blurring forward with his pair of chained kamas in hand to strike at Endeavor.

Hammer roared, charging out of the flames worse for wear, covered in second and third degree burns but still in the fight. Her commissar-inspired costume had been badly damaged, and Endeavor propelled himself back again. He focused on further increasing their combat distance, and I could see that his gameplan was to continue wearing her down, while searching for that single fatal mistake that would let him finally bring down Sickle. Whatever would happen would happen, but my focus was no longer on their battle.

Rather, I could only stare on in horror as Endeavor's fire wall continued traveling forth, burning out to an orange-white color and colliding with an apartment building at the end of the streets. Endeavor quickly forced the wall of fire riding over the building to dissipate, and went back to evading Hammer's rage-fueled attempts at finally catching him.

Completely focused on the high level cape battle at hand, Endeavor seemed to pay no mind as second after second went by, and an apartment building full of innocent civilians rapidly caught on fire from the residual flames.

I was moving before my brain even finished processing what was happening.


	9. Midoriya's Notebook Entry: Hammer&Sickle

**Cape Profile - Hammer and Sickle**

Real Names: Anastasia Sokolovsky, Vladislov Sokolovsky

Quirks: Inversion Kinetics (Hammer), ? (Sickle)

 **Brief Summary**

 **Hammer**

Power Output: Very High

Intelligence: Above average

Technique: Above Average

Mobility: Above Average

Durability: Very High

Cooperativeness: High (Ideology)

 **Sickle**

Power Output: Average

Intelligence: Average

Technique: Very High

Mobility: Extremely High

Durability: Average

Cooperativeness: High (Ideology)

 **Analysis**

Hammer and Sickle is a tag team consisting of two fraternal twins who are notorious communist terrorists. Hammer's allows her to alternate between reducing incoming energy by a significant portion (nearly 100%), and to amplify the force generated by her muscles. Sickle appears to be a moderate speedster, and his quirk allows him to close very short distances up to fifteen to twenty five yards very quickly.

Both twins are highly skilled in guerilla insurgency tactics, as well as both conventional firearms and their weapons of choice. Hammer's preferred weapon is a tinkertech sledgehammer tipped with tungsten carbide, and Sickle prefers a pair of long-chained kamas made of a lightweight, highly durable alloy that he uses to set up combination attacks with Hammer. They are dangerous enough when found in a pair, but are rarely found alone as they have numerous followers to their cause across the world that they recruit henchmen from.

There are unconfirmed accounts from encounters with the pair that a byproduct of Sickle's quirk causes disorientation, but the mechanism of action is still unknown.

 **Countermeasures**

As noted in Endeavor's encounter with Hammer and Sickle, Sickle's mobility can be mitigated with wide area control quirks or technology such as a completely serious Endeavor effectively slagging the streets in their encounter.

Hammer can be caught either on the "offensive" timing of her style, or completely overpowered with sufficient force and energy such as Endeavor's full power blue flame burst. They are both radical ideologues to the extreme, and can potentially be drawn into making a mistake as Endeavor has demonstrated.


	10. Chapter 7

**A/N:** My writing pace might slow down quite a bit here. I fell off a seven ft tall rock in a Tibetan hiking trail and had to do a backwards breakfall onto the trail to make sure I didn't die. Unfortunately, the movement to redirect all that energy into the ground still had a hell of a recoil, which left me with a pretty big bruise on my right hand. It hurts whenever I move my fingers too much, so yeah, that's gonna translate directly to a slower writing speed.

Anyway, back to a couple of notes regarding the story. I did rename a considerable chunk of the original cast, while keeping them 'reasonably' true to the original characters in the context of the story. Every name chosen in a rename will be a play on the literal meanings of the characters in the names of the characters, which are mapped to analogous world cultures. This won't be a problem for pure Worm readers, but will definitely be a bit jarring for the MHA fans who have come to love certain characters.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

I had already begun to move even before the wall of fire had hit the building.

 _What was Endeavor thinking?!_ I continued to scream internally.

Endeavor was capable of putting out fires as well as he could set them, and while he did put out the surface fires immediately after the building was hit, that there were several rooms inside that had been set ablaze by the wave of fire that had washed over the building. Something was seriously wrong about that skirmish I'd witnessed back there, but I couldn't put my finger on it. In any case, there was a good chance that a number of people had just been trapped in the building and needed to help.

Even with the battle going on nearby that gave me a more-than remote risk of getting caught in a crossfire, I didn't care. I sprinted and jumped, clearing every obstacle in the way without a second of hesitation. If I weren't in such an adrenaline-fueled state, I would have definitely stumbled over a fence or two, but in my state of heightened focus, I'd covered several blocks in well under half a minute without batting an eye.

As I approached the apartment building where the fire was rapidly spreading, I noticed a fire extinguisher inside of a stairwell about four buildings away. The reasonably accessible fire extinguisher was behind the half-open third window on the second floor, over a fusion Thai/Malay fry shop. Half-eaten meals sat strewn across the tables in a fenced, outdoor garden, and the restaurant's managers had temporarily closed up shop with customers taking refuge within the shop. Curious and frightened eyes stared out at me from a slit that had been left open behind the metal grating.

Getting to that window would take a couple of moments, and the fire would continue to spread while I trespassed. However, it had been made clear to me repeatedly by Mrs. Rose that it was better to prepare than charge in recklessly in the best of situations, even moreso when potential lives were at stake.

I jumped on a garden box in the outdoor seating area, and hopped onto the fence, balancing myself carefully as I took one step after another as quickly as I could do so safely. Gauging the distance to the first window, I jumped, grabbing onto the edge and pulling myself up onto the windowsill. Bending my knees, I jumped again, grabbing onto the next windowsill, and then the final one over. With a grunt of effort, I opened up the third window and ran in, unhooking the fire extinguisher from the wall.

Turning around, I dropped down the windowsill with the heavy fire extinguisher under my left arm, and hung off the edge. I gently rolled the extinguisher below, which landed with a light clanging noise. With a swing of my legs I hopped to my side, grabbing onto a sturdy looking decorative light and I slid down enough that I could drop to the ground safely.

In one single movement, I grabbed a pitcher of ice cold water in one hand, dunking half of it over my head. It was really cold, and I shivered from the frigid liquid that covered my body, but it would provide the tiniest bit of protection for what I was about to do. I ran forward, scooping the fire extinguisher under my arms again.

I'd only managed to get a couple of steps away when I heard a thud behind me and immediately felt two taps on my shoulder.

I turned around, only to be greeted by an Asian girl around my age wearing a blue Battletoads t-shirt, green shorts, and matching white gloves and sneakers. The girl had long dark hair, light skin, and a small, amused, knowing smile. Her exceptionally large, round eyes were leveled in a flat, neutral expression, but somehow, the look on her face seemed to convey an equal sense of amusement that her smile did.

"Umn, hi?" I asked uncertainly.

She pointed at the half-filled pitcher I had in my hand then the fire extinguisher under my other arm.

"I believe that belongs to my family" she stated flatly.

I sheepishly opened my mouth to respond, but she held up a hand, looking over my shoulders towards the side at the apartment building, which was now ablaze. She stared at it for a good two or three seconds, before turning back to meet my eyes.

"You're about to run into that, aren't you?"

I nodded nervously.

"I won't be able to dissuade you either, will I."

I shook my head.

"I suppose it's fine, just remember to return it after. In mint condition of course."

She held one finger up to her chin, looking up thoughtfully as her tongue lolled at the edge slightly.

"My name is Tsuranadi Poryprayrana by the way. Does the boy who's about to run into a burning building have a name? Ribbit.""

 _Wait what? Who the heck reacts like that? Also, did…did she just croak?_

I gulped, "I-I'm Izuku Midoriya, but just about everyone calls me Midoriya. It's nice to meet you Tsura-"

"Call me Tsu," she stated in the same deadpan voice. "You'd better come back alive, or we'll bill your family extra. Ribbit."

"T-thanks for the vote of confidence?" I questioned.

"Just run, Izuku" she stated. Her lips turned up into the barest hint of a smile.

I nodded, turning and continuing back towards the building. The apartment was a four story building, and a large number of residents had already filed out. It was only two buildings over where I was standing, and I'd closed the distance in the heartbeat. A couple of the residents were staring back at their burning home in horror.

"Is everyone okay here?" I asked, jogging forward onto the scene.

"I believe so," a fox-morph wearing black jeans and a blue button-down with a tag that said "Superintendent" turned to me and replied. He had a vague, Hong Kong British accent, and he was frowning.

The apartment building was small, one of those old-fashioned refitted tenement types with weekly community building events. Glancing around at the 21 people that had made it out, I took a shot in the dark.

"Do you know everyone who lives in the building?" I asked the fox man sharply.

"Most of them, yeah," he replied, before looking me up and down in scrutiny. "Are you some kind of hero in high school training, boy?"

"You could say that" I answered. I was really glad that I had taken the effort to put on my full red and navy blue exercise clothing for this session. It didn't exactly scream "superhero" but was enough to convey that I was someone serious about training.

The fox-man looked around again, frowning. "I don't see Mak Gai Chan and Megan Cruz, they live in 5C and E respectively and I didn't see them leave today. Wait, where's the woman from 5B? She was here just a minute ago."

A high-pitched shriek ripped through the air, and I whirled around towards the sound to see a young woman around Mrs. Rose's age stumble out of the apartment building. Her hair was in mottled shambles, and soot covered her tear-streaked face. She was wearing a pair of gray yoga pants and a black tank-top, and she screamed again before collapsing in a sobbing heap in front of the door.

I had dashed to her side and knelt down next to her. Her arms were blistered, bubbled and red up to the elbow. She was badly burned, but she just screamed and cried without paying her arms any mind.

"Ma'am you're okay" I put the fire extinguisher down and put an arm on her shoulder to try and get her to stand. "It's not safe here, let's get you out and-"

The woman jerked against my arm, breaking my grip. "No! No! No!"

I held both arms around her elbow, trying to steer her away from the burning entrance to no avail. She sobbed, digging in her heels and struggling back towards the building. Gusts of wind swirled around her, forming a sphere in her distress and I covered my eyes with one of my arms to keep the dust out of my eyes.

"My baby daughter! I visit friend below mine apartment, but I couldn't get back my home 5B. Please! Someone help her! Help my daughter Allison!"

Even though I was close enough to a raging inferno that I was already starting to sweat profusely, my body felt like it was frozen. A baby trapped inside? Two residents unaccounted for? The woman continued to struggle, but I put her in a controlling hold and dragged her away from the building. She was overwhelmed by her grief, and slackened, stopping the gust with her wind quirk. The woman simply continued to sob as I pulled her away.

This woman needed a hero.

Before any of the spectators outside could react, I dumped the rest of the ice-cold water over my body, placed the pitcher neatly outside, and ran inside with the fire extinguisher in hand.

I've walked into hell itself.

Smoke billowed across the entire room, and I coughed as the caustic air cut into my nostrils. I noted that all six first floor apartment doors were wide open, and I immediately jumped on the stairs, hopping up three stairs at a time. The second floor was in a similar state, and I heaved as the crackle of the flames and thick smoke around me almost overwhelmed me.

I sprayed the fire extinguisher around, relieving myself from some of the onslaught as I extinguished a storm of small flames that had piled up. I continued to rush up the stairs, and managed to push my way through a small bed of flames on the fourth-floor stairwell without a problem.

When I rounded the final corner to the fifth floor, I saw the problem.

The flames roared at the top of the stairs, cutting off my path. I sprayed at the wall of fire with the fire extinguisher, trying to create a path through, but it was too much. The old apartment building was full of flammable material, and the floor groaned, crumbling and flaking as the flames behind it filled the hall. I cursed the greed and laziness of the landlord. Why the heck weren't there any active sprinklers?

I glanced around the third floor. Out of the three of five floors I'd visited, all of them had the same layout. A desperate plan formed in my mind. If I was right, 5B would be over…I ran down the hall, looking at the apartment doors. If each floor had the same layout, apartment 5B would be right above….over there! Apartment 4B.

Apartment 4B was filled with a thick cloud of smoke, and I walked in, pushing my way through a smoky interior. The living room was furnished with various football paraphernalia, an air mattress, and rows of video games. I ignored the contents of the living room, rushing over to the balcony and tried to open it. It didn't budge.

 _Crud_.

Thinking fast, I made my way into the kitchen. Picking up a steel mallet out of a rack full of cooking tools, I hurried over to the balcony and smashed the glass with the mallet. Then, I strapped the mallet on my 'utility belt', before stepping outside onto the balcony. I was already thinking of a foolhardy way to get to the floor above.

 _I only have three shots at this, I need the last one for the save_.

I dropped the fire extinguisher, palming one of the foam grenades before dropping over the edge of the balcony. This gave me a clean line of sight on the floor above, and I clicked the activation button, counting to half a second. Then, I tossed the grenade up to bounce off the balcony above. The foam was designed to expand, then rapidly close down and spin around anyone caught within. If angled just right…

The grenade popped, spewing yellow foam all over the balcony above. A bit leaked over the edge, but it was a failed throw. Shouts and screaming started below me as the people below me noticed me hanging off the edge, but I didn't pay them any mind. I was completely focused on the limited time I had to get upstairs.

Frantically, I reached down for another grenade, clicking it. I tossed it up, trying the throw again.

This time, the grenade popped off the edge, and a layer of yellow foam came cascading down the edge of the balcony, spinning as it hit the ground.

Down to two. Functionally one.

I breathed, closing my eyes and forcing the stress away. You've got this Izuku, just adjust the aim a little bit. Calm your mind and focus.

A whoosh followed by a thud above me caused me to jump in surprise, nearly letting go of the balcony.

"Wha?"

"Need some help, Izuku? Ribbit."

It was Tsuranadi, the strange girl I'd 'borrowed' the fire extinguisher from. She was somehow standing over me in a crouched position.

How had she even gotten up here?

"Umn, uh, yes? If you can? Help would be nice, but how would you help Tsura-."

"Call me Tsu."

Wearing that same inscrutable expression, her tongue suddenly extended. In the blink of an eye, her tongue had fully wrapped around me, and it firmly grabbed me around the waist as I hung off the edge of the building. With a single jerking motion, she tossed me in an arc up in the air with her tongue.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, surprised by the sudden boost. Luckily, her aim was true and I landed squarely in the foam I had tossed up moments before.

Taking a moment to gather myself, I peeked through the glass in front of me. I couldn't see much because of all the smoke, but I could see some flames licking at the wall next to the door. I moved in with my ears an inch away from the glass, listening where I couldn't see.

I heard crying.

I took a deep breath and focused myself. I probably had a very limited time to get in if it wasn't too late already. What I had to do was incredibly stupid and risky, but it could just pay off.

Taking a moment, I stepped into a throwing stance and braced myself. Then, I leaned in with what little body weight I had into a powerful throw. The mallet landed square on the center-right balcony screen, and with a strained groan, the screen cracked and shattered.

I immediately leaned back to the left and threw my arms over my face as a torrent of smoke and fire blasted out of the apartment in a cone like it was bleeding through the glass. I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my right arm as the roaring flames flared out.

As the flames tapered off, I risked a glance at my clothes. My shirt had been singed across the chest, and I had taken a painful burn on my right sleeve which was now on fire. I frantically slapped the flames out against the wall, putting out the embers that I had caught on my sleeve. Then, I inspected the burn - thankfully it didn't look too bad, but I'd definitely feel it a lot more than I already was when the adrenaline wore off.

"Ribbit."

I turned, seeing a pink tongue loop several times around the balcony railing behind me. A moment later, Tsu came soaring up, landing in that same frog-like crouch I had seen her in before. She had her family restaurant's fire extinguisher tucked under her arms.

 _That. Is a seriously cool quirk._

Tsu turned to look at me before stating in that familiar neutral tone, "I'm assuming we're here for the hysterical woman's baby."

I winced for a second as I clutched my burned arm, before responding. "Yeah, there are also two residents unaccounted for. 5C and 5E."

She nodded, "I just wanted to be on the same page. Ribbit."

I took point, stepping into the apartment. Unloading the room pressure had cleared out most of the smoke, but I could see that the fire had spread across the living room and had started to envelop the kitchen cabinets. I could hear panicked crying within, and I beelined towards the sound, coming to a closed door.

I tapped the door knob with the back of my hand. Thankfully, it was cool to the touch, so the fire hadn't reached the bedroom. Tsu put both her arms on the fire extinguisher, spraying it at the smaller flames around the room. I'd learned the hard way that a fire extinguisher was virtually useless for the big flames, but controlling the smaller fires would give us a bit of time and room to work.

I quickly twisted the knob and dove inside. Unfortunately, there was a pile of toys over the floor and I tripped, and I fell burned-arm first into a pile of Legos.

"YARGH" I shouted as my world exploded in pain. Hissing in pain, I crawled to my knees and looked around the room. Twin sized bed, covers in disarray. Tacky calligraphy art and Disney posters.

My eyes landed on a young girl in a crib, maybe one or two years old with a small tuft of black hair and dressed in a Minnie Mouse onesie. She had stopped crying, and was staring at me silently with a frightened look from the bed. I picked myself up and stared down at her.

"H-hey there! I'm Izuku. Everything's gonna be okay now."

I looked back as Tsu came up behind me with the same calm resting expression I was beginning to associate with her. Even though I was barely holding myself together, Tsu's calmness helped me steel my nerves. Turning back to the baby, I flashed a grin just like my all-time favorite superhero would.

"Why?" I maintained the goofy grin. "Because we're here!"

I walked over, offering a hand, and the baby waddled over, grabbing onto my hand with a giggle. I bent down, picking her up in a hug ignoring the searing pain in my arm, and jogged on out of the room.

The apartment door was engulfed in flames. No way we were going to get out that way. I coughed, wheezing as smoke filled my lungs even further. My vision was starting to get blurry, and I struggled to keep my mind focused.

"Tsu…" I turned to face her, "There are two more apartments on this floor that might have people trapped in them."

She simply glanced at the flaming front door for a second, before giving me the same resting deadpan face.

"It might be too late by the time we get her out and back, but I'd like to try and save everyone" I elaborated.

Tsu's flat expression vanished instantly as it was replaced by the largest smile I'd seen since meeting her maybe twenty minutes ago.

Now that was a weird reaction. What's up with this girl?

"Do you have a plan?" she turned, coughing into her sleeve as the smoke around us began to affect her. "Just so you know, I will probably be grounded for a year after this. Ribbit."

I bit my lip, considering the options for a moment before responding.

"The best way to do this would be for us to swing us over to 5C so that we can check on the people in there because it's close. If there aren't any complications, you can swing me over to 5E and make your way down with the kid. Those foam grenades you saw me use were customized to let people shield themselves from large kinetic impacts such as falls, so if it looks like it's a lost cause, I'll just use one to drop down and dissolve it with a solvent.

She stroked her chin with her finger.

"Ok. Lead the way Izuku."

We rushed outside, and following the plan, Tsu wrapped her tongue around the railing swinging over. Then, she shot her tongue over, grabbing onto me as I held onto the baby tightly. The baby giggled, giving off a small "wheee" as we swung around to the building over.

Peering into the balcony door, I saw that that the front door was completely ablaze. However, due to the large amount of renovations the owner had made involving insulation and metal reinforcement, the fire was only beginning to spread inside. Gripping the mallet with two hands, I quickly swung from my hips, shattering the glass. I stepped inside, noting that the living room was empty, and ran into the building checking door after door.

Empty. All empty.

I coughed, trying to force the fumes out of my lungs to no avail. There was simply too much smoke and I was starting to have trouble breathing.

"Looks….looks like the apartment is clear," I wheezed.

"So it seems. Ribbit."

We looked at each other, and rushed back outside wordlessly, repeating what we did with the first balcony. It was a little tedious for Tsu to aim her swings, but we'd leap-frogged two more balconies over to 5E in a very short period of time. Thankfully for this home, the balcony door for 5E was open, so without stopping for a second, we ran inside.

Unlike in the case of the first two apartments, we were greeted with a completely different scene entirely.

A small, petite woman was passed out on the floor of the living room, and two boys hugged her, crying and shaking in fear even as smoke filled the room from beneath the front door. Hearing us rush in, the two boys looked up and stared at us in surprise. Neither of them could've been older than seven or eight years old.

"Hello!" I said, putting on my best All Might smile again. "We're here to help. Everything's gonna be alright. Why? Because we're here!"

If anything cemented my aspirations to become a hero for good, it was that moment. The knowledge that we were responsible for that look of hope and joy that immediately filled their hearts was indescribable. It was simply a wonder. I walked over to check on the mother, and was relieved to find a weak pulse.

"Izuku," Tsu started, "How exactly will we do this."

I grit my teeth, before sighing in resignation. "I'd figured we would only have to get one person out of this apartment, but now we have an adult and three kids for a total of four.

Tsu nodded in agreement, "Neither of us is really that big, although it's clear to my we're both strong for our age bracket. I'm not sure if we have the time ferrying everyone down with my quirk would take. Ribbit."

A 'whoosh' sound filled the room like a draft on the windy day, and I saw flames begin to lick under the door.

I gulped, but the reflexive motion caused me to take in another lungful of smoke, and I coughed hard trying to get the ashy taste out of my mouth. Grabbing both remaining grenades at once, I sighed and responded to Tsu. "I think I can get Cruz down directly, and you can probably get the baby down on the first run. I'll go first and pop the first grenade, which will probably be enough to get me and the mother here into safety. Once the foam consolidates, do your best to slow our foam blob's descent down a little and settle us down."

"You know" Tsu stated flatly, "We've barely met, but I must say you are absolutely insane and unbelievable. Ribbit"

I didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult, but we both had something more important to worry about.

"Anyway, judging by the ridiculous mobility I've seen you put out so far, you should probably be able to make enough roundtrips before this room fills with fire."

"Got it" she stated with what I was now mentally calling the Resting Tsu Face.

"It's ride or die now, Tsu. Boys? Go with the big sis here, she'll take care of you guys. Your mother's also in safe hands with me."

The two boys nodded in slow affirmation, still scared out of their minds and too shocked to really say anything.

I picked Cruz up with a grunt of effort, and threw her over my back. Then, I walked over to the balcony and reached down, clicking the three second timer on a foam grenade.

With another raspy breath to steel myself, I stepped on to the railing, and jumped off the building.


	11. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _…Oligarchical, monarchic, but otherwise stable societies had been overthrown worldwide, paving the way for those of humble roots and wicked hearts who sought power and dominion. It is our opinion that Quirks had begun manifesting at the worst possible time in human history. It should have come as no surprise that when individuals with fantastic, godlike power began to surface, that these ambitious power-hungry Tyrants would be the first to harness them to deadly effect. Without the sacrifices of The Warden, The Matriarch, The Valkyrie, and the 'Renegades' they'd led, the world we live in would be a different one indeed._

 _-Introductory chapter to 'The Memoirs of Thunderbolt and Warpath – Last of the Renegades'_

* * *

 _"Buzz…buzz...buzz…"_

My eyes fluttered, and I yawned sleepily as I shuffled under the bedding. It was more than a little chilly, and I pulled my covers in tightly. Coughing into my covers, I took deep, heavy wheezing breaths to try and get comfortable to no avail. For some reason, I was sore all over, and a dull, mysterious pain kept nagging at my right arm.

I heard a buzzing noise and felt something tickle my nose. Brushing my hand over my face, I shooed away whatever it was away, before going back to trying to get to sleep. Several minutes passed, and I just couldn't seem to fall back asleep. I coughed, feeling an itch at the back of my throat like something was stuck in there. My throat was strangely parched, and it didn't help that my nostrils also felt swollen.

Man, was I coming down with something or what?

Also, why did my right arm feel like it was on fire? That was the last time I overdid it on the diamond pushups. I've had some serious elbow soreness from that exercise, but nothing compared to what I was feeling now. The pain radiated from the back of my right shoulder down to the outside of my forearm. Now that I thought about it, it was more than a little bit of soreness nagging at my right atm. When were my pillows ever this soft? Strange.

I was suddenly aware of a presence moving to stand over me, and I opened my eyes.

A familiar, curly haired bespectacled woman stood over me, holding a look that was halfway between irritation and concern. She was wearing a blue track jacket with a shield on it, and form-fitting white sweat pants.

"Mirshes Rowth?" I mumbled warily. My eyes were blurry and my vision still coming into focus, and I was suddenly very aware that I wasn't in my own room.

Without saying a single word, the woman I considered to be my mentor swiftly raised a rolled-up newspaper into the air, and firmly rapped me over the head with it.

"Ow," I rasped in indignation, "Wha…Wha wrs thirt f-."

It didn't exactly hurt, and she was putting just enough force behind it for a firm slap, but it was still degrading to get bonked over the head with a rolled-up newspaper.

Why was my throat so dry anyway?

 _*Smack*_

"That. Was for making your mother worry."

I tried to regain my bearings, but the newspaper flashed down again.

 _*Smack*_

"That. Was for making ME worry."

 _'Wait wha-'_ I tried to protest, which came out more like "wrg whr?"

Confused, I took a moment to get my bearings. I looked down, and noticed a long plastic tube in my mouth, explaining the hard feeling I had at the back of my throat. I was surrounded with machines that had all sorts of biometrics on them including my breathing rate, oxygen intake, blood pressure,and heart rate. It didn't take a genius to conclude that I was in the hospital.

She rapped me over the head again.

"That. Was for being a stupid kid who doesn't listen to his tutor about planning and recklessness."

Oh.

Everything came rushing back to me in an instant.

The apartment fire.

"Irm sawry fir run in fiar" I mumbled out. I still wasn't sure what exactly happened, I remember finding a woman passed out on the floor with two of her kids huddled around her, but everything after that was a blur. "Ir dey ok? Wrt harpin? Dun 'member."

Mrs. Rose palmed her face, before shifting into Mrs. Rose Lecture Stance #3.

"Izuku, you tell me the number one cause of death in fire-related incidents?"

I drew a blank, staring into space for a second, and I shook my head. It wasn't…well, fire?

"The fire itself is rarely the direct cause of death. Most fire victims die from asphyxiation or poisoning from the smoke" she continued with a scowl. "You were extremely lucky that whatever company was contracted to construct the building didn't use more hazardous materials. You passed out due to the oxygen deprivation and from scalded airways. Other than that…"

She walked over me and peeled back my right arm sleeve with one hand, and a look of disapproval flashed across her face while she shook her head. I followed her gaze - I hadn't noticed at the time, but in addition to the brown burned patch on my arm, my entire arm was scalded red from the shoulder down to my hand.

"There's a reason why professional firefighters always take care to avoid getting drenched by their own fire hoses, Izuku. Water prevents you from getting burned in short, brief contact with weak fires. However, a large temperature spike like the one half a dozen cameras caught you shirking back from will steam you alive. The doctors had to cut the suit off your right side using a knife."

I fell silent, as I took in that information. I hadn't really thought about what I was doing at the time. I just knew that there was a kid trapped inside and a grief-stricken mother. It just occurred to me how close I had come to death, through the collateral damage of a high-ranking hero no less. I also wasn't a medical professional, and didn't know exactly how bad the burns on my right arm were.

"I understand exactly why you ran into a burning building, but could you please consider taking proper precautions before you do something like that? At least try to understand what you're getting into before charging into action."

"S-sawwee" I choked through the tubing.

I still wanted to know if everyone got out okay though. What about Tsu? Mrs. Cruz's kids? They were still in the building right behind me before I lost consciousness.

"As for the aftermath…" she trailed, before unfurling the newspaper she was holding.

* * *

ENDEAVOR CAPTURES INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST 'HAMMER' – NUMBER TWO HERO UNDER UNIVERSAL FIRE FOR EXCESS

* * *

The front page was plastered with pictures of collateral damage from the battle against Hammer and Sickle, and a badly burned Hammer was splayed out on an ambulance stretcher. I couldn't make out much from where I was, but I caught quotes from describing the hero's conduct as uncharacteristic. There was also a lot of speculation on what would happen with Sickle still at large and, plans to expedite Hammer to emergency care and trial.

I wanted to get a closer look and read the article in depth, but Mrs. Rose shooed my gaze away from the top of the newspaper and to an image near the bottom. There was a medium rectangular picture in color, and at first, the angle and scenery made me think it was a specific scene I had watched hundreds of times before I was six years. It was a picture of All Might in his classic navy blue and red spandex, holding an unconscious civilian on his back while a building burned behind him.

On a second glance, I realized it wasn't All Might. For one, the figure in the picture was too short. His frame was also too small, and he definitely wasn't blonde. His messy, unkempt dark hair was drooped forward, with a Hispanic woman draped across his back. The way the light reflected made it almost look like he had green hair.

He stood quaking on a single knee as yellow residue dropped off around him, dissolving against a sheathe of white bubbles. Whereas All Might had always looked untouchable, pristine, and majestic in his daring rescues, the figure in the photo looked like he'd come out of hell itself. He was covered entirely in soot, with small cuts all over his body and burns up his right arm.

The figure had a massive grin on his face, and at an initial impression, the lunging stance that he was locked into screamed of human perseverance. An Asian girl with enormous eyes was blurred in motion, landing in a three-point stance besides him. Her enormous tongue held onto the two boys tightly, who had their eyes closed. One of the boys was clinging onto a familiar baby for dear life.

With a stark realization, I realized who the figure was. It took me a second to recognize him, but it was me. Izuku Midoriya. My eyes glanced over the title of the article:

* * *

THIRTEEN YEAR OLDS MOUNT DARING FIRE RESCUE

* * *

The headline for the article starring us was drowned out by all the criticisms and commentary on Endeavor's capture of Hammer, but there we were, on the bottom of the front page for a rescue we'd mounted. It was surreal to me.

"From what I can gather, you were unconscious before you hit the ground, Izuku. Thankfully for everyone involved, you managed to trigger the solvent release before you blacked out or you may have genuinely suffocated" Mrs. Rose explained.

Seeing the look on my face, she bent over and ruffled me on the head affectionately.

"Kid? I'm proud of you for pulling something like this off, but please, do be more careful from now on. Remember the people you'll be leaving behind, and don't cut a bright future ahead short with something like this."

I stayed silent at that, at a loss for words, and looked down thoughtfully.


	12. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **In Another Time And Place**

 _"No…"_

Primitive military aircraft zoomed overhead, desperately awaiting a signal to swoop in. Flames churned across the landscape, and the black sky churned, groaned, and rippled, as if reality itself were in its own death throes. In this hellish landscape, a woman coughed painfully, draped around the back of a cloaked man who really wasn't in much better shape. A cracked mask, gold and black reminiscent of an ancient, queenly visage hung limply off her neck, and the woman wheezed, struggling to breathe with several punctured organs and broken limbs.

It wasn't the worst that that she had to fight through over her career, but she was definitely in the worst state she'd been in for years. The woman clung on, struggling to refocus her fading consciousness. Her fevered mind was teetering on the brink of delirium, but nevertheless, she reached over to grab her companion's shoulder. The cloaked man who had her slung over his shoulders pushed on forth, pushing on despite the weight of his own injuries.

She breathed heavily, struggling in to regain her breath. "No.." she clawed at him yet again in despair. Her voice cut through the air like a sharp knife this time. "We have…we have to go back! Can't let them. Stupid, self-sacrificing…"

 _"Do you have a fucking death wish?"_ the cloaked man hissed beneath her, continuing to push forward. "They've made their choice. There's nothing we can do now."

She strained and fought against his grip. She was "After all the good we've done. What we've all been through. I can't them throw their lives away here. We can't let-"

"Come the fuck on!" he barked angrily, slowly continuing to stagger forward one step at a time,

"You think I'm the slightest bit satisfied with the way things turned out for us? We've all bled and sacrificed long before we stopped Goddess during her dimensional imperialism bullshit. All of us knew there would be fallout after the Ouroboros Project too, but this is it. Our separate roads have led us here over the years, and we've stopped the worst of the bunch one way or another. This is the last loose end looming over the world, _all worlds_ , and it all ends here. They've made their peace and you of all people should understand that."

"Please" she begged, "Not me. Have time...one last time. They're my world…everything. Just want…say goodbye."

The man stopped walking.

"You know, doubling back might genuinely give us a better chance of getting out of this in one piece. Got anything that'll actually let you fly us over there, Matriarch?"

"Adrenaline shot, left leg holster," she breathed unhesitatingly. "I can…I can fly us over. Have him use his power on us one last time. Better condition to escape after."

He grimaced, glancing up at the rippling sky somberly, "We did our part, but I'm not liking our chances as it is. We need all our heavies and thinking heads on their game to stop this, or we're _all_ fucked. Varanustra said so herself."

The cloaked man settled her down against some debris, reaching for the compartment while sighing. "I'd better not regret this, Matriarch. Bloody fucking martyrs, I'll never understand the lot of you."

oooo

 **Present**

It was early September, and a lazy early morning at the Monarch Butterfly. I scribbled away, planning my schedule for the week. It was the first day of school, and I was more than a little apprehensive about going back to school, considering the way I stormed out on everyone back in spring. Although the city's high school entrance exams were still a good four or five months away, time really wasn't a luxury that I had in spades. I really didn't need any more distractions and heckling than I had already gotten from my peers over the years.

The fire rescue stunt I pulled off back in July had taken me out of commission for the better part of a month. The doctors let me out of the hospital pretty quickly, but I had to return every week to get my burns checked and treated since then. Thankfully, the injuries were just superficial enough that I had avoided long term damage with proper care.

Losing all that training time had felt awful, but it gave me more time to brush up with some mock tests and to work on my raw conditioning. I was fairly certain I could score high enough for the staggeringly high cutoff on the written portion of the exam and secure myself a slot in general admissions, but I couldn't afford to get rusty or complacent. I was competing with kids coming in from several nearby states with only forty seats in the Hero program, and even though one or two members in every class would typically drop out of the Hero program, it was arguably even harder to get one of those seats after someone matriculated out.

I was disturbed from my musings and worries by Alec, the ginger tabby had suddenly seen fit to jump on my notebook and stare up at me with a blank expression.

"Mroow."

"Hey there boy," I reached over, scratching him behind the ears which earned me a purr. "You feeling hungry?"

Alec purred in affirmation, which prompted me to reach into my backpack and pull out some treats I kept for him.

"Kid, forget the kitty cat for a moment, you've been scribbling away like a man possessed. You want a pick-me-up, little man? Maybe a pork cutlet hero or something? I know it's your favorite and I'm sure the boss lady will cover it, considering how much she likes you."

I looked over at the counter, making eye contact with a smiling Jesus Ramirez. Jesus was one of the hired hands I was more familiar with at the Monarch, and the man who usually took the morning shift these days. Since I'd met her in the spring, Mrs. Rose had rarely left the counter, but she had been coming in to open her shop later and later since my rescue. She had treated me as well as a second mother since that fateful afternoon, and from what I could tell, she vetted her workers carefully and treated them with respect.

I could barely ever catch her in the mornings anymore, but she was still there to patiently tutor me on subjects like hero theory and tweaking my training program. The only other thing she demanded of me was that I helped her out off the table with the menial grunt work in her store's paperwork, mostly arithmetic calculations and spreadsheets for payroll and stuff.

I glanced at the clock and bit my lip. I had a bit of a time, and I've always been a sucker for a nice greasy Katsudon. "I'll take you up on the sandwich, Mister Ramirez."

"Alright! One pork cutlet hero with mayonnaise ketchup, lettuce, and tomatoes coming right up!"

I waited patiently, continuing to expand my timetable through the rest of the month while musing about my summer. A sudden jolt of pain down my right arm made me grimace. With my injuries, martial arts and practical parkour training had been put on hold, but since the injuries only covered my outer shoulder down to most of my forearm, I had doubled down on balance work, speed, endurance, and written theory.

Anything high impact with a risk of aggravating the injuries was out of question, but as it stood, I could clear a 100-meter dash in 8.7 seconds, and I had increased my vertical jump to 67 inches. These numbers weren't anything special since quirks had suddenly manifested overnight all those generations ago. However, from what I could find, my numbers were actually better than most heroes who didn't focus on their physical abilities. Sans burn injuries, I'd never felt better in my life, and I didn't know where I'd be if I had done something stupidly time-inefficient. I could've been running around with wrist and ankle weights clearing out a junkyard or something.

Even though I'd lost a good amount of sleep to the painful burns, it was worth it in the end. I got to see three kids and a woman to safety, and made a new friend. It'd be a while before I could talk to said new friend though. Our little rescue mission had gone largely unnoticed with all the controversy and media attention Endeavor had created when capturing Hammer, and as Tsu had expected, she was grounded for six months on the spot. She had left her contact details in a short note with her get-well flowers while I was unconscious in the hospital though.

 _'You're pretty cool. Get well soon._

 _I have no phone or internet for six months.'_

Blunt and straight to the point, I was beginning to notice a pattern with that girl.

"Little man?"

"Huh?"

I blinked, glancing up to see Ramirez standing over me with a doggie bag in hand and curious look on his face.

"You've been spacing out for a good thirteen minutes. Your sandwich is ready by the way."

Wait thirteen minutes? I glanced up at the clock. Oh crap.

"AHHHHH!" I screamed, "I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

oooo

I ran into homeroom, huffing as the door slammed behind me. It hadn't occurred to me how far all that conditioning I'd done had gone until I managed to run the whole half mile to school without stopping. I had three minutes to spare, and as expected, the classroom was full of new faces muttering and chattering with each other as new friends and acquaintances were made for the school year.

What wasn't expected of course, was the room to fall eerily silent as the entirety of my new homeroom class turned to stare at me at once.

"What?" I asked, confused by their reaction to my presence.

"Holy crap it's him," I heard someone call as the whispers and chattering began to chorus through the room with greater fervor than before.

Before I could react, I was dogpiled by a number of students all bombarding me with questions.

"What was Endeavor like?"

"Do you actually have a quirk?"

"Have you been holding out on us the whole time?"

"Dude, you ran into a burning building?"

"Who was that girl with the tongue quirk?"

"What kind of quirk do you have?"

"Huh? I, uh…" I stammered, overwhelmed by the sudden attention. So much for the incident going virtually unnoticed.

"DEKU," a voice suddenly cut explosively through all the commotion. The students surrounding me stepped back, falling quiet to stare at the source of the noise.

Just my luck. Katsuki was in this homeroom class too, and he was seated towards the rear leaning back in his chair in a relaxed position, with his legs hanging over his desk. He had a bored expression and was looking out the window trying his best to look disinterested.

…Wait, did he just create an actual explosion to quiet everyone down?

I turned to face him as the room fell quiet again around us.

 _Crap._

"I don't know what kind of ass-ended stupid crap you've been up to, but seriously, think really hard on it before you continue. They're jerking you off for coming out of a little fire, but we all know you came out looking like a train wreck."

He scowled, standing up from his seat and looking at the bandages wrapped around my arm pointedly. He walked over, continuing to talk, until he stood over me with a look that could kill.

"If you knew what was good for you, you should seriously call it quits. This is only gonna to end painfully for you. And I know you're probably still going on and on about getting into UA without a quirk like a total dumbass."

A year ago, I would have been cowed, falling into a stammering, frightened wreck. Instead? I stood tall against his posture with a fake grin plastered across my face.

 _Oh god, he's gonna kill me. I'm so dead. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod._

He stared down at me for a moment, a single eyebrow quirked upwards. Despite how well I knew him, I couldn't read his expression. I met his eyes, but subtly moved back slightly at a 45 degree angle while keeping my eyes on his right shoulder, looking for that tell that I knew so well. For a second, I almost thought he was going to try and punch me in the gut and disembowel me with a point blank full power explosion.

"Feh. Looks like you've actually grown a pair. Just remember, get in my way and I'll crush you like a fucking bug, Deku."

I responded unflinchingly, "I wouldn't expect anything less, Kacchan."

He shrugged dismissively, before turning around to walk back.

The questions and classroom chatter started up again, and I did my best to handle them. For a moment, I stared past them as Katsuki moved back to his seat. What the hell was going on?


	13. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

Chapter theme: Hero A

* * *

Bakugou was in a terrible mood, and of course, Izuku Midoriya was the cause yet again. When he'd realized something had changed with Deku right before summer vacation, Bakugou felt confident that it wouldn't take very long to figure out exactly what changed with useless, quirkless Deku. After all, it was fucking _Deku_. That kid had the motivation of a friggin' Koala bear when it came to changing the status quo, so what could he possibly have been up to?

Then, surprise, surprise, halfway into vacation, the idiot had managed to get himself plastered all over the internet for all of three days by running into a burning building with another kid and getting himself dropped into a hospital. Bakugou didn't really care what Deku did at first. Worthless losers would always be worthless losers after all, and if that kid had half a brain, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that fire and left the heroics work to the _real_ heroes. However, Bakugou had to admit the changes had seriously come out of left field, and thinking about the causes was starting to tick him off. He needed to focus during their last year in this shithole of a school, and he was finding the new Deku a little more than irksome.

To his frustration, finding out what Izuku had been up to had turned out to be more difficult than he'd expected. His attempts at outright asking the dumbass to cough up what he'd been up to had failed spectacularly. When confronted by Bakugou, the old Deku would have started stuttering like a little bitch and breathing out an answer, before running away with his tail between his legs. On the other hand, Izuku just gave Bakugou that stupid grin nowadays, one that desperately needed to be blown off his face, and ignored him.

As much of a trigger fuse temper as Bakugou had, he wasn't stupid, and he prided himself on good instincts. He'd always been bigger and more powerful than Deku, but he could see that the new Deku had been putting in some serious physical work. The old Deku would have taken someone's strong-arming like a little bitch, given up what someone else wanted, and sulked away while quietly licking his wounds. However, Bakugou had instantly picked up that this new Deku would have actually tried to put up a fight if Bakugou tried to wrangle him on what he'd been up to. It would have been a fight that he'd inevitably lose quickly of course, but it would have drawn enough attention to get Bakugou into some serious shit with the school.

After weeks of watching Izuku quietly squeezing grip trainers under the table while he took notes in class, and doing _hundreds_ of pushups with different variations at lunch, followed by sprinting _dozens_ of laps around the school perimeter while ignoring him, Bakugou had enough. He wanted answers. Just what the hell was made this kid turn his drive up to eleven?

Bakugou usually wasn't the type to skulk around. That kind of shit was usually for the loser supervillains who didn't have the balls or power to fight face to face. Unfortunately, hitting Deku with a proverbial hammer hadn't gotten him the answers he'd wanted. But, whatever the quirkless dropout was up to was driving Bakugou crazy with curiosity.

So, stalking the loser it was. A couple of days after class, he'd followed Izuku as they were let out, ducking after him and staying out of sight.

Yet again to his surprise, Izuku had managed to ditch him completely. It was surprising because Bakugou knew the streets as well as Deku did, and the kid had never shown a penchant for situational awareness. It was obvious he'd done it purposefully – Deku had paused momentarily all three times, tried to act normal, and started walking just a bit faster. When Bakugou rounded the corner after him each time he'd been detected, Izuku had vanished into thin air. Bakugou had tried again the next week, and again today at a different pacing and angles, only to wind up with the same results.

How Izuku managed to pull that off every time, Bakugou had no idea, but it just bothered him all that more. The fact Deku was able to do that confirmed that there was something more at play here, but of course, he couldn't figure out what.

Bakugou grumbled, punching a wall with a light explosion in frustration and leaving a small scathed mark. Stepping back from the wall, Bakugou swatted away a swarm of flies that had for whatever reason, been drawn to the residue from his quirk.

Whatever Deku's secret was, he was actually doing a decent job at keeping it away from Bakugou, and it was just nagging at him more and more. If he wanted peace of mind, he would have to get to the bottom of it eventually.

-oooo-

I should have expected that catching Kacchan's attention would lead to trouble for me down the road. Ever since our relationship soured late into elementary school, a palpable tension had built up between us. Kacchan would deny it unflinchingly now, but there was a time, long ago, that we had been inseparable. I understood Katsuki Bakugou in a way no one else ever would, and although we were arguably no longer friends, that fact hadn't changed.

A lot of our classmates wrote him off as a loudmouthed, idiotic bully, but Kacchan was observant, probably had the best book smarts in our class, and unfortunately, extremely prideful. He'd picked up on the fact that I had changed a lot in just under a year, and watching someone like worthless, useless 'Deku' do a 180 and grow so much would bother him to no end. It would have no doubt jeopardized the mental hierarchy he had constructed in his head now that I no longer refused to stay 'in my place'.

An unexpected result of the mental exercises Mrs. Rose put me through every week is that I had quickly gained a deep sense of my personal self and space, as well as my surroundings. It hadn't even occurred to me that it might happen, but while walking home from school two weeks ago, I had noticed a familiar tuft of bleached hair out of the corner of my eye while checking my corners and ceilings like I'd been taught. A year ago, I would have missed that brief flash of yellow, but I had quickly realized I was being tailed by Kacchan, and nearly died of panic. I'd kept my cool, and lost him by hopping a fence on a turn.

Now that Kacchan had a sense that there was more going on other than personal motivation, he wasn't going to stop until he found an answer to all these little 'inconsistencies' in his mind that he was satisfied with. Kacchan wasn't a patient or relaxed person in general, and for some reason even less patient when I was involved. I wasn't sure what my mentor's story was, but she would occasionally put on this faraway look that looked like she had seen a little too much in her relatively young age. I didn't think she'd appreciate if Kacchan came rampaging into her store or warehouse looking for answers, and I would do my best to preserve her privacy.

"Izuku," my instructor stated as I settled down on the training mat for the afternoon. "What is your greatest, and most necessary asset as someone without a quirk?"

"Skills, knowledge, and awareness?" I answered hesitatingly.

She smiled warmly in response to my answer. "As good of a guess as any, but all of those combine into one greater over-arching idea."

Mrs. Rose had her hair braided up in a ponytail, and we sat cross-legged across from each other in the middle of the mats. She was wearing a plain black-and-grey suit of some unknown cloth mesh. A blue box sat between us, and I couldn't help but feel both nervous and apprehensively excited as I wondered what was inside.

"The real answer in the end, is options, Izuku. You're a sharp kid and have no doubt worked out that I used to be a Hero. I trust you understand I have my reasons for not wanting to talk about it too much?"

I nodded, the look I occasionally glimpsed on her face taught me it wasn't my place to pry. The benefits of having a likeable, recognizable face attached to a brand was extremely beneficial to heroes that did it 'professionally', but there were still a minority of professional heroes, including All Might himself, that did their best to retain a secret identity. It was still common practice between supervillains, but it was rare nowadays that heroes chose to do so since it was such a hassle. It was permissible without going vigilante only if your identity was privately registered with the Worldwide Superhero Registrar meaning _someone_ knew your identity anyway. I'd figured that she had been one of those back in the day.

"I can tell you that I wasn't a heavyweight back in the day, and in a sense, we both fall under the same category of heroes, quirkless or not. You've worked a lot on mental frameworks and mobility, as well as continuous basic hand to hand training. However, in a world where individuals that can destroy city streets with explosions, teleport, and walk through tank shells are commonplace, you will need as many options and tricks up your sleeve as possible to make your dreams viable."

She removed the lid from the box, and took out two metal rods, placing them on the mat in front of us, along with a short baton with a button on it.

"Today, I'll be teaching you the style of close range fighting I used back in the day. This may not be the style you settle on while you grow, but I had been drawn to weapons used in this style from day one. I'd used the family of weapons long before I received formal instruction in them, subsidized by a larger Hero organization."

She picked up the baton, and clicked a button, causing a chrome rod to extend from the base.

"Eskrima. Arnis. Silat. Kali. Filipino and southeast Asia styles focusing on short blades, batons, and sticks. These are the sole weapons-based hand to hand styles I am comfortable with teaching at any advanced level. Unarmed styles might be 'cool' or 'interesting', but if you are in a situation where you need to fight for your life, it is _always_ better to go in with a weapon than while unarmed. It's unfortunate, but sometimes only one of you will walk away. Do you understand?"

I gulped, nodding furiously in affirmation. It had dawned on me that there would be times where I wouldn't be able to run away and avoid a fight against a villain with a quirk I didn't know and out for blood. The thought of that worried and chilled me more than it should have.

She smiled warmly at me, "Good. If everything's copacetic, then let's get started."

Reaching into the box again, she pulled out another set, before rolling them over to me.

I took them and stood up, swinging them testing their weight. The metal rods felt strangely comfortable to me… almost _right_ in a sense.

"Never forget that these batons are fundamentally weapons, kid." She lectured, standing up with her own pair. "They are dangerous, as are all weapons. If you don't master them, you are liable to injure yourself as much as you are an enemy."

I stared at the metal rods in reverence. One more trick up my sleeve. One step closer to UA. One step closer to becoming a professional hero. I would train with my best and nothing less, and I was thankful that I had the best instruction an aspiring hero could have asked for.

"Now Izuku, copy my stance and follow my movements…"


	14. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Chapter Theme: Boku No Hero Academia OST - 29. KOKORO NO YORI DOKORO

* * *

 **February**

I gulped, trembling as my eyes scrolled back through the brochure that was sent to me a week before. This was it, the night before the practical exam.

* * *

The Department of Management (Class I-K) – _The Department of Heroics is focused on teachings its students assorted, practical techniques for managing heroes, ranging from managing hero branding to micromanaging careers, logistics, and agencies on the ground level._

 _Core courses include comprehensive introductory education in two foreign languages of choice, technical composition, history, and mathematics. Elective offerings include courses in health and training regimenting, psychiatric support, public speaking, accounting, marketing, human resources, supply chain management, new media press management and more. UA management and support alumni boast nearly ninety percent placement rates at top 30 business and engineering schools nationwide, and all hero management electives are accredited university level courses._

 _All successful heroes need good agents and managers to keep their image clean to raise their public standings. Learn to manage human resources, hire sidekicks, deliver speeches to the public, and more-or-less handle everything in the background. Never forget that hero managers are the true unsung heroes of this day and age!_

The Department of Support (Class F-H) – _Students in this department aim to learn to provide critical assistance to any Hero on a broad spectrum. There is a common misconception that the Department of Support produces sidekicks, but it is of course, inaccurate._

 _Primary paths in the Support path include, but are not limited to Criminology, Logistics, Field Support, Research and Development, and Tinker Engineering. Core courses include accelerated and advanced programs in mathematics, science, programming. Students are sorted into the general education program via a placement exam in summer._

 _Electives include courses in university level Tinker Engineering, criminology, forensics, and general engineering. Learn basic Varunastra algorithms to analyze relics from the Great War, as well the principle and twists on conventional physics that make them work. Learn to understand the mind of a supervillain, and to predict their heinous plots before they even think of it themselves._

 _Gadgets, strategies, medicine, and tactics. Whether you want to become the next great Tinker, Field Analyst, or a support Hero in something else entirely, your path starts here!_

The Department of General Education (Class C – E) – _The Department of General Education is for students who still wish to pursue a career in heroics, but are uncertain of what role they wish to play. The general curriculum follows regional standards, while opening electives in the management and support departments. It is common for students to shift and rotate seats between General Ed. and the Department of Heroics, Support, and Management on a per annual basis._

 _Students who enroll in the Hero Program or Support and Management departments, but have not placed in the top forty or sixty respectively may also find themselves offered placement into this department._

 _Work hard, students of General Ed, and you will find your path!_

The Department of Heroics (Class A – B) – _The department of Heroics focuses on producing the best of the best heroes of every generation. New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Shanghai, Mumbai, Paris, West Berlin. All founding member nations of the United Nations have a branch of the Department of Heroics in their respective crown jewel cities, and in regional populations of tens of millions, only forty are accepted to a branch each year._

 _Only those with the highest grades, mettle, character, and raw talent, and quality exhibited in the written and practical exam can enter this department. Whether a registered hero focuses on rescue, disaster management, counter-villainy and suppression, international relations and more, all must complete the department's exclusive core syllabus._

 _When the people speak of heroes, you can be sure UA's alumni are on their lips._

Do not disappoint if you are accepted into this program, aspiring young heroes! PLUS ULTRA!

* * *

Each branch of UA had eleven classes with twenty seats in the specialist courses, and forty seats per general education class per year. In total, there would only be a maximum of two hundred and eighty seats, and only forty for the Department of Heroics. There were other decent hero programs in the city, but of the top 50 best-performing heroes in the country, 42 had gone to one of the four UA branches and the ones who did speak of it spoke highly of their training.

It was a rather telling metric considering tier one cities worldwide produced freshly graduated aspiring heroes numbering in the low hundreds each year. If I wanted to become a registered hero, the instruction and networking at UA would definitely go a long way. It was necessary even for someone like me, considering the disadvantages I had starting out such as, oh, not having a quirk. Of course, there were universities that offered dedicated hero programs, but most had explicit clauses that a quirk was required for entry, unlike UA. That was before going into the fact that most streamlined hero agencies and organizations wanted their sidekicks young, and more importantly talented and already trained in a dedicated vocational program like UA's.

I was pretty certain I'd done well on the first written exam last week, but I couldn't help but feel apprehensive. People who were aiming to join the support or management courses had their own second-stage exams today, and everything else would rest on how I did today on the practical.

"Izzy! Come on down and set the table."

"Coming, mom!" I shouted back down. Worrying about the exam and my future prospects in my chosen profession could wait until after dinner.

Walking down into the kitchen, I wrapped my arms around my mother, who was stirring a pot on the stove. She turned around to return the hug, and after an affectionate moment, I walked over to the counter behind her, opening a cabinet and pulling out the porcelain and silverware.

"Taylor!" my mother shouted, "Is it alright if I add some cilantro to the stew?"

"That's alright," I heard a leveled reply from the dining room. "Please do go easy on the chili peppers this time though, Inko."

Not too long after the fire rescue incident, my mother had frantically stormed into my room demanding an explanation for everything that I'd been up to since the summer. With a teary confession, I'd told her that I was training under a retired hero who thought I could make it into UA, despite being quirkless.

 _"Invite her over for dinner? I mean, I really, really, really appreciate what she's done for me mom, but I don't want her to feel like she has to come over._

 _My mother ruffled my hair with a smile. "I know, I know Izzy. We're both alike in that we worry about things we can't control. I haven't known that teacher of yours for very long, but I think she's a good person. She isn't going anywhere any time soon and I really must get to know her outside of her tutelage_. _I want to meet the woman who has inspired as much as she has!"_

It'd been almost half a year since my mother first invited Mrs. Rose over for dinner, and since then, she had been a mainstay at our home, bringing over her fair share of gifts in smoked meats, imported tea leaves, and fresh produce on a weekly basis. My mom of course, had been surprised by how 'young' she was at first, despite her making an effort to dress up for first impressions.

As it turned out, they had a lot in common, and it didn't take too long for the two of them to acknowledge each other on first name basis. They even played bridge together on the weekends, and I was pretty sure my mom was going to rope her into her little book club soon.

With an armful of plates in hand, I walked out into the dining room to greet my spectacled mentor for dinner. It was rare to see her dress up at all before she started coming over for dinner. I mean, her idea of dressing up before that seemed to be a sweater and crocs. But here she was, sitting at our dining room table in a well-fitted navy power suit and tie, with her hair up in a ponytail and a little silver scarab breast pin and everything. I was seriously wondering what the whole scarab and butterflies thing was all about, but that probably had something to do with the hero career she never wanted to talk about.

As obsessive as I was about Heroes, I couldn't think of any high-profile bug-themed capes off the top of my head, which was weird considering how _ridiculously_ knowledgeable and good she was at everything. There was a super team in South Japan with a bug theme, but she wasn't exactly South Japanese.

The first thing she did when she saw me walk out of the kitchen was stare at me with a frown.

"Did you get any sleep last night, Izuku?"

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, "Maybe…about five, six hours? I had trouble staying asleep."

She sighed in response, "It should've been expected, but that definitely isn't ideal. This is going to be a tough exam, and you're going to need every advantage you can get."

It had been hard, but as she'd asked, I'd spent the entire three days before the test doing anything but training. I could see the point, but sitting around doing nothing but read drove me nuts when it felt like my entire future was on the line. I was feeling stir crazy, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep well tonight even if I was already tired.

A second later, my mother walked out with a large pot of steaming hot stew in hand. The aroma hit me like a bag of bricks, and my mouth watered, overwhelmed by the smell of spices and quality roasted pork and vegetables.

"I trust Mrs. Rose's judgement in letting you go through with this," my mother commented while placing the pot on the table, "Izuku, please be careful with all of this. You'll be extra careful tomorrow, won't you? Promise mommy?"

"I promise, mom. I'll be extra careful."

Taking our places at the table, my mother immediately began scooping out servings, and chatter began to spring up around the table as we talked about our respective weeks. It'd been a relatively quiet couple of months in school, so I didn't have much to talk about. After stalking me for a couple of weeks, Kacchan had settled for glaring at me from afar. The lack of active bullying from my peers had died down now that Kacchan of all people had stopped, and honestly, it was pretty weird. I still hadn't gotten used to opening up my locker without seeing taunting messages from the other kids inside.

I sat back, doing my best to enjoy my stew while Mom and Taylor chattered on. It was nice, having little family dinners like this again. Now that Kacchan and I were barely on speaking terms, and my dad's business trips overseas in Japan were getting longer and longer, the house had felt strangely empty in the last couple of years. After what felt like a comfortable eternity, we finished our meal, and I collected the dishes to put into the sink like the dutiful son that I was.

"I guess I'll be going now. Thanks for having me over, Inko."

Taylor smiled, putting on her scarf and trench coat. Winter had rolled around full force, and which was probably why they set the exam out in an artificial tinker-tech island training field. You had to have to the grit to operate in any sort of environment to be a hero, after all.

"It's always a pleasure," Mom responded, pulling me into a hug. "You're the reason why my Izzy is going to be a little hero soon."

"Moomm," I whined, "Please stop."

She ruffled my hair again, before releasing me and stepping towards Mrs. Rose, arms wide.

"Wha?" Taylor flinched, stepping back for a moment as my mom walked in with her arms wide. It made for a sight, my normally stoic and unshakeable mentor blushing in embarrassment like a ripe tomato as my smiling, rotund mother wrapped her into a hug.

"Thank you. Thank you for going above and beyond, and thank you for everything that you've done for Izuku, Taylor." She quickly stepped back out of her space. "I don't think there's any way we can ever repay you for all that you've done for him."

"You don't have to thank me, Inko" she blushed, looking away with an uncharacteristically flustered expression while adjusting her clothes. "The kid, er… your son, deserves his chance."

Collecting herself, she walked over and bent down, putting one hand on my shoulder. "Knock 'em out kiddo, you've got this."

She leaned in to whisper in my ear, "And remember, don't use _it_ unless you are absolutely certain it's the only way you or a loved one will walk out in piece. Regardless of what happens in this exam, stay true to who you are."

Erm okay? That was weird. Not the _it_ part. She had allowed access to old gear that her teammates used, but I had found a personal item in there that I was only to use if things ever went completely FUBAR. What was that about staying true to who I am?

I nodded uncertainly, "I'll give it my all Mrs. Rose, no er, Taylor, er, no worries! Plus Ultra!"

I flashed my best grin, and she gave me a smile and nod in response, before turning around for the door. With an unceremonious creak, she closed the door behind her, leaving nothing but a draft of cold wind.

Now, if only I could actually get a good night's worth of sleep for the exam.

Despite all my nerves, jitters and apprehension, I wound up sleeping like a baby. Annoyingly enough, all I could remember about it was a dream of a ginger tabby chasing around a ball of string.


	15. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Chapter Theme: U.A High

* * *

"Whew, made it."

I sighed in relief, running through the front gates of U.A. I was a little out of breath from the hectic subway commute, and shivered, breathing into my hands to warm them up.

I stood still, staring up in wonder at the impressively constructed mega-structure and out past the United Nations headquarters down the avenue to the training zone, which stretched out over most of Roosevelt Island. This whole thing must must have cost millions upon millions, heck billions!

No.1 Hero All Might, No. 2 Hero Endeavour. No.3 Hero Typhoon Tara, No. 4 Hero Best Jeanist. All of them had graduated from the hallowed halls of U.A.

This was my next step in becoming a certified hero.

I breathed, trying to calm myself down, going through a familiar set of mental exercises.

"You can do this, Midoriya. You've been training for this, and you have all the tools you need. Piece of cake, right?"

I muttered to myself, quivering in front of the main entrance.

 **"Hey DEKU! You're in the fucking way. Get the fuck out of my face before I set you on fire."**

I was snapped out of my stupor by a familiar, angry voice and the sound of feet strutting up to me. I turned around, and before I could react, the silhouette of the figure stomping towards slammed straight into me and kept going. Kacchan was a pretty big kid, and the impact caught me flat.

"Yipe!"

 _Aaaand now I was falling face-first into the pavement._ With me grabbing onto all my gear and flat-footed, there was no way I would be able to land clean from this. I should have realized that the universe would play a joke on me one last time before I could try for U.A.

 _What a way to start a physical exam._ I briefly thought, doing my best to brace for the inevitable impact, but I never actually hit the ground.

"What?!" I flailed around, but I couldn't tell which way was up or down. I was floating in the air a couple of inches off the ground.

"Are you alright?" a kind-sounding voice spoke from my left. "Sorry, I saw you falling so used my quirk without asking for your permission first. No hard feelings?"

I felt a hand close around my own, which pulled and turned me upwards, until I stood face to face with the girl who'd saved me.

The girl had two long locks of brown hair with a short bob at the back. She had a cute round face with rosy cheeks, and her large, bright, brown eyes managed to sparkle beneath the morning winter sun.

 _She's…she's so cute. Holy woah, what do I say? I umn… Uh._

"Man, I'm pretty nervous, how 'bout you?" she asked with a nervous but cheery smile. I could only stammer and stutter as I found myself at a loss for words.

"Anyway! It was nice meeting you! Good luck in the practical!" she said, rushing away with me staring after her.

' _Oh man, I just talked to a cute girl!'_

Apart from Tsu, who I'd met in a pretty stressful situation, it was honestly a pretty new experience for me to talk to a girl my age, since I was the subject of ample ostracizing and bullying. Then again, I didn't really talk to her. The other kids still kept a wide berth around me, but it was better for everyone to ignore me and pretend I didn't exist than to deal with their active bullying.

Oh, get a grip Midoriya. Stop freaking out. Mental focus. Remember your lessons.

Somehow, the one brief experience brought my mood up and quelled my nervousness, and I smiled, quickly striding into the main hall. I was ready to take part in the exam with high spirits, but secretly, I wanted to meet the nice girl again. Who knows, maybe we'd both get into U.A, as unlikely as it was from a statistical standpoint.

Wait.

I didn't even manage to catch her name!

oooo

"ARE YOU READY!? YAY-EAH! IT'S ME, YOUR SCHOOL DJ AND MORNING ANNOUNCER!"

Silence greeted the mysterious speaker as lights around the auditorium began to dim as the room. The empty stage was shrouded in darkness, and a moment later, large stage lights beamed down around the center of the stage. A man wearing a leather jacket and a tinkertech speaker device around his neck stood there on a podium in a pose. The man had ridiculous orange sunglasses and long hair gelled straight up into the air. I instantly recognized him as the Pro hero "Present Mic". Big time Pro Hero, radio talk show personality, former actor, singer, and now full time English teacher at U.A.

"OhmygoshIdon'tbelieveit!" I gushed, "I listen to his radio show every week! So crazy that all the teachers in U.A are pr-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Katsuki interrupted from next to me in a hiss, "You'd better not be rambling through the whole test, Deku."

Just my luck that I was seated right next to him in this orientation, huh?

"COME ON AND LEMME HEAR YA?" Present Mic's voice boomed around the auditorium again, only to be greeted by silence.

"WHO'S READY TO HEAR THE RULES OF THE EXAM?"

The pro hero's overly enthusiastic questions were greeted only by silence.

"Tough crowd, huh? Looks like we have a studious audience!" Present Mic stated cheerfully, "WELL! LET'S GET STARTED! YAY-EAH!"

"Today, you rockin' boys and girls will be out there doing an hour-long mock urban battle, and you can bring whatever you want if it benefits your quirk! After I drop this mic, you will head to the lockers, which lead to one of in one of seven adjacent battle centers. A-through-G. Your identification card will tell you E-XACT-LY which area you need to get to!" he shouted as everyone picked up their cards.

I looked down at my card, and saw a large "B" circled. Looking to my right, I saw that Kacchan had been assigned to Battle Center A.

"I see…" he suddenly spoke, and I looked up to see him looking at my card as well, "They're splitting us up so that we can't team up with our buddies."

He looked up, and noticed I was staring at his card as well. "Eyes off the card or I'll fucking kill you!" he hissed, "Tch, here I was hoping to crush you and get you out of the exam, too."

"Hehe…he." I laughed nervously. He was a little too gung-ho about curbstomping his opposition, sometimes.

The monitor lit up as three different images appeared on the screen. Each had a letter from A to C.

"Anyway! There are three different types of enemies scattered through each battle center. Your goal is to use your quirks, as well as any gadgets you may have brought along to disable the Villain Bots as quickly as possible. Because it wouldn't make any sense for us to discount applicants with less direct combat oriented quirks, all villain bots will have weak points – a simple off switch hidden behind a smashable glass box in the back."

With a swivel, he changed his pose on the podium, "Of course, any unheroic actions such as attacking other examinees is strictly prohibited! As your lead examiner, it is my duty to inform you all that you will all be under surveillance and scrutiny for the exam, so don't get any funny ideas!" he shouted.

The examinees muttered and nodded along in agreement, while Kacchan simply made another annoyed grunt from right next to me.

He continued, "Let's go over the villains you will be facing, then!"

The screen changed, and depicted a human-like silver android that held a chromed rifle.

"Type A villains are the most common enemies we have chosen for this exam. They are roughly the size of average adult males, and will fire at your lower body and limbs with high velocity riot control gel bullets."

 _"Huh, those bullets won't kill, but they'll definitely hurt, bruise, and slow us down_ …" I muttered.

Then, the image on the screen screen shifted, before settling into a terrifying faceless mannequin with claws.

"Type B villains are the second type, and are designed to make as little noise as possible. They will sneak up on you and hold down in programmed control holds, so stay vigilant and check your corners!"

 _"Something else to drain us of valuable time and energy…"_ I commented again, under my breath.

The image morphed once again, settling into a tank-like robot with a single red eye.

"Finally, we have Type C villains. Type C villains are bulky and slow, with heavier armor. They are programmed to fire at you with a heavy water cannon, and will attempt to hold you down to stall for time if you get close. The limbs have weak points you can attack to escape when this happens, but their primary weak points, for those of us less inclined towards raw power, mayyyyy just take a bit more effort to get to, but who am I to spoil the surprise!"

The image on the screen changed again, settling into the iconic U.A logo.

"That's it for the villains, folks! The villains are worth one, two, and three villain points respectively, and you will have an hour to hunt down as many as possible, so pace yourself accordingly! All examinees will be provide a multifunctional armband to be returned at the end of the exam, and if you flip over to page 12, the user guide is right there for you to peruse. There are some exciting functions in there, including an enemy radar and heart rate tracker!"

I looked down, and immediately flipped through the pamphlet to page 12.

"Wait, what's this about an IFF radar and 'bail' option?" I stared down, wheels in my head turning.

"Our exam kit also includes protectives goggles, if you are worried about the projectile splash from the Type A villains. If things get a little too dicy in there, you can toggle the option of retreating from the exam with a minute delay. On the other hand, if for some reason you are rendered unconscious or grievously injured, you will be retrieved from the field by U.A staff with half your score retained, so don't be afraid to go all out if it makes sense! Any questions?"

"Excuse me sir, but I have a question."

A serious voice rang out from behind me, and everyone turned around to see a tall and muscular teenager stand up. The boy had dark, preppy hair and rectangular half-rim glasses, and he was settled in a dress shirt and blue tie that just SCREAMED WASP-y private academy.

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic shouted as he pointed to the teen, and the room's spotlight settled on him.

"On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, but you have only covered three on the screen! With all due respect, if this is a misprint on official materials UA, then it is SHAMEFUL! We, the examinees in this room, are exemplary students here because we wish to be molded into heroes and we expect the best from the world's best school. A mistake like this simply just won't do."

I just stared at him. Seriously?

Feeling my stare, he swiveled to point at me, "AND YOU! With the unkempt hair!

"Me?" I curtly replied, meeting his eyes as the teen glared at me.

"You've been muttering under your breath the entire time. If you can't take this seriously, then you should just leave! It's distracting the rest of us, and no offense, but you don't look like you belong here. You should just go home if you're here to mess around!"

Wow. I seriously couldn't catch a break, could I?

"Settle down, rockstars! Thank you, Examinee #7111 for calling in with your request!" Present Mic held out a thumbs up, dissipating the tension that had built up between me and Preppy Boy.

"Don't worry my young friend, there wasn't an error, but the fourth and final villain robot was left out on purpose! The fourth villain type is worth zero points, and it's a robot that will go between every battle center. Think of it like an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way. There's one that will roam between all seven battle centers, but think of it as a situation to avoid! It's not it can't be beaten…but there's kinda no point! I recommend you avoid it and focus on the ones on top of the charts!"

"Oh I get it..." a kid whispered from nearby, "It's kinda like traps you have to avoid in games."

"Thank you very much for explaining, sir!" preppy kid bowed deeply, before glaring at me one last time sitting down into his seat.

"And that's all I you have for you today, listeners!" he leaned forward, his pale eyes beaming past his shades and blonde hair. "I'll sign off with a small present. As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, a true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes."

He threw his hands into the year, and shouted enthusiastically.

"Let's give the school motto a spin, shall we? READY TO GO BEYOND?! CAN I HEAR A PLUS ULTRA?!"

Present Mic was met by silence again as a thick atmosphere of anxiety filled the room.

"…Well, ahem. Good luck then! Hope you've all practiced with more than just hitting the books!

I gulped, standing up from my seat as muttering filled the room, knuckles white as I held onto my bag and trickled towards the locker rooms to get my combat gear on.

Well, here goes nothing. Getting in was going to be a long shot in the first place, but I was definitely going to give it my all.


	16. Chapter 13

****Chapter 13****

* * *

Chapter Theme - Battle Training

* * *

 **Battle Center B**

"Man…this place is huge!"

I gaped at the massive miniature city laid out before us. Geeze, it was almost a perfect replica of a second-tier city! I knew U.A was the best of the best, but this was more than I expected. The school had a functional tram that ferried students from beneath the academic building and directly to the now-empty Roosevelt Island, for crying out loud.

My eyes, which were now covered by the safety goggles, suddenly landed on a familiar figure, the cute brunette who'd kept me from getting barreled over by Katsuki when he'd gone charging into the building.

I found myself walking towards her, "Should I go introduce myself? Umn, I should probably return the favor this morning. Wish her luck! Yeah!"

Before I could take a third step towards her, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I was surprised to see the preppy guy with glasses who'd put me on the spot for mumbling at orientation. He too, had a set of goggles over his eyes, and I could see the faint glimmer of contact lenses behind them as he glared at me.

 _Wow, get off my case already. Jerk. Figures that I'd get this even away from middle school._

"That girl is trying to concentrate and focus herself, don't interrupt her" he stated sharply. A warning look flashed in his eyes, "Are you going to get into her head and ruin her chances of passing?"

"Uh, no. That's not what I'm going to do by a longshot," I tried to explain. "See-"

Several of the other kids started laughing, snickering and commenting on the jumpiness I'd exhibited before.

 _"Look over there, isn't that the guy who got embarrassed in the auditorium?"_

 _"What a loser, he nearly wet himself on the spot."_

Doing my best to brush them off, I glanced back over the entrance area, only to settle my eyes on Present Mic for a moment. Despite not saying anything since leading us to the battle zone, he'd run on top of the gates quietly, while keeping his eyes glued on to his wrist watch. It'd already been seven minutes, and he just…stood there. Completely, utterly, silent.

"Man, how long are we going to wait here? Mr. Present Mic?"

Present Mic ignored the question from the examinee.

 _He's not going to give us a warning..._ I quickly realized.

Most of the other kids hadn't caught on, but if they were going to pull all this stuff on me, I'd might as well make the most of it. I caught the girl with the rosy cheeks staring over at the commotion, and I met her eyes. As subtly as I could, I shifted my head left towards Present Mic a few times, causing her to look over too. Her eyes lit up with understanding as she saw him glance at his watch. Looking at my own, it was twenty three seconds from nine-thirty.

"YES! I'M SUCH A LOSER" I agreed, watching Present Mic carefully. If they were going to roast me, I'd might as well take advantage of it and draw a scene that would let me get a head start. When I wasn't a heavyweight with a cool, overpowered, quirk, I had to hang onto every little opportunity given to me. Reaching down around my belt straps, I pulled up my batons.

"THE BIGGEST LOSER IN THIS EXAM!"

Twirling them in my hands, I began to go through an exaggerated baton drill. One that I'd done thousands of times at this point, stirring up a scene. If my guess was right, he would call the start in about five seconds. I needed every little edge I could get without a quirk.

"A RATHER FIRST ACT CLOWN IN FACT, WHY, YOU COULD PROBABLY EVEN SAY I'D RUN AW-"

 **"START!"**

The split second I saw Present Mic gather air in his lungs, I dropped my weight, sprinting ahead as quickly as I could. Confused by my outburst, I felt the people around me freeze, staring agape as I hit the ground hard and zoomed ahead of them and into the narrow opening of the gates just as they began to part. The brown-haired girl had seen me dash forward, and began to run behind me.

There were three Type A bots standing around about fifteen meters out the entrance, and I immediately dropped low as they leveled their guns at me, falling into a rolling dive to the right. The gel rounds sailed past with a high, whistling noise, missing me entirely. With a sweeping motion, I slammed my right baton behind the mechanical knee of the nearest one, dropping it onto one knee. Following the momentum from my initial swing, I spun around, smashing the second baton into the switch on the back full force and deactivating it. I stood up, clinching it and holding it up as a human – robot? shield as the other two fired their gel rounds at me which splashed harmlessly against its chassis.

Rushing forward into the second one, I shoved the deactivated robot into it, quickly knocking it off balance. Stepping outside to the right, I swung hard with a double baton swing and smashed into the switch onto its back, deactivating it as well.

"What's the matter, rockstars?! Get a move on! Were you waiting for a countdown?! There's-"

I grabbed the arm of the first robot, spinning it around to parry the shots from the third once again. I was a bit slow with the third one, and ate two or three rounds to the chest that hit me like a combination of punches. I moved forward to engage it, only to see its head get taken clean off by a flying sidekick from Preppy Kid, who was glaring at me furiously behind his goggles.

 _He's fast. Holy moly, there was a ridiculous amount of momentum behind that kick._

"-nothing like that in real life battles!"

 _"Two Villain points awarded"_ the armband chimed as I began to take off into the city.

"You!" Prep Kid shouted angrily, matching my pace as I ran ahead of the crowd. "That was underhanded and disgraceful. Completely dishonorable and unbecoming of a hero! Why-"

I noticed a sudden blur out of the corner out of my eye, and I ducked. Prep kid's beratement of me was interrupted by a set of five mechanical arms wrapping around his limbs, dragging him into the alleyway with a scream. I saw a silhouette in the dark alley twist, and I ran in after him only to see a mannequin with its arms firmly locked firmly around his throat and legs hooked high under his armpits, and two more mannequins that were grabbing onto his legs. They had their limbs extended, bending his knees upwards in a straining hold that didn't have enough force to outright break his knees, but would definitely push them to the point of severe pain or incapacitation in a few more seconds.

It took me less than half a second to take in the scene. I hadn't bothered to really look over Prep Kid in before, but I now noticed had visible exhaust engines attached to his calves. He struggled and kicked, bouncing back and forth around the alleyway trying to get free. However, he just didn't have any leverage to do so. My reading materials had always emphasized that proper leveraged blood chokes were the worst unarmed combat techniques to get hit by, as the average human passed out in less than ten seconds. When you were suddenly cut off from fresh oxygen, you usually didn't have enough time to get free in the five to ten seconds it would take for you to pass out. About two and a half seconds had passed since he'd been dragged into the alleyway.

The printed materials had emphasized there were a finite number of villains within each battle zone, so with the way the test was set up, prospective students were encouraged to let the other examinees get taken out by the villains when possible. Seeing as the takers were scored against the performance of the exam as a whole, not just their own battle zone, it would have been to the benefit of the other examinees if someone with a mobility quirk were taken out early. If I had to be cynical, most people in my spot would have let the preppy kid rot there, especially with how he'd treated me so far.

But I wasn't most people.

I rushed forward, flanking the mannequin with its arms locked around his neck in a figure-four hold. With a scream, I swung my baton around and smashed through to the switch on its back.

With his arms now free, Prep Kid twisted, pushing off the wall with both hands. Using a jet of steam pressure from his exhaust engines, he spun around and slammed into the mannequin on the left with a spinning back kick, before falling onto the ground with the two mannequins wrapped up around him. At the same time, I ran forward and kicked out the other mannequin's legs from under it, and slammed the head of my baton straight down into the switch.

 _"Four Villain points awarded"_ my armband chimed again.

Running over to the fallen, struggling, muscular teen, I pulled the deactivated mannequin off his back. He propped himself up on his arms and coughed, breathing heavily. With a grin, I bent over and offered my hand.

"Alright, so, I think the two of us got off to a pretty bad start, but let's see if we can salvage this and get off to a better foot. My name is Izuku Midoriya. Call me Izuku or Midoriya, it doesn't matter. I'm really not that bad of a guy."

He struggled to maintain his composure for a second, as well as he could while sprawled out, and closed his eyes with a smile. A second later, he reached up and grabbed my hand.

"Thank you, Midoriya."

I pulled him up, and he looked down at me with that same serious look, only the venom was missing this time. "I apologize for being as abrasive as I was to you. I'd thought that you weren't taking this seriously, but it looks like I was mistaken."

"Well..."

"Say no more, Midoriya! I see now that it was a clever ploy by you so that the other examinees would underestimate you. You have proven your character with your actions just now, and I bid you well! Shall we both pass the entrance exam with flying colors, I will see you within the halls of U.A!"

With an exaggerated swagger, he saluted me military style, and zoomed off down the alleyway, faster than any normal human could hope to run. Now that I had a clear look, it all bit confirmed that he was a speedster. If I had to theorize about how his quirk worked-

I blanched. What the heck are you doing, Izuku? You have a test to get back to!

Well, that was my first good deed of the day and I'd probably see him again in the remaining fifty-eight minutes of the test. Regardless, I needed to get a move on and hustle.

…

Wait, did I just forget to ask that guy for HIS name too?!

oooo

 **U.A Command Center**

...

 _Four Villain Points, Three Hero points awarded: Examinee 2234 - Izuku Midoriya_

 _Two Villain points awarded: Examinee 7111 – Neil Rice_

 _Three Villain points awarded: Examinee 2308 – Maxime Beaumont_

 _Two Villain points awarded: Examinee 3981 – Yoo-hyun Kim_

 _Three Villain Points, Six Hero points awarded: Examinee 4971 – Tsuranadi Poryprayrana_

 _One Villain point awarded: Examinee 1983 – Armando Hernandez_

 _Fourteen Villain Points awarded: Examinee 2233 - Katsuki Bakugou_

 _…_

Yagi Toshinori stared at the screen as the words signifying the first wave of villain and rescue points being granted slowly began to scroll down the console. The type B variants the administrators had chosen for this exam cycle seriously gave him the chills. As powerful as he was when he was using his power, those mannequins were seriously creepy!

"All screens up and functional. Cameras 837 through 1094 fully operational." A tinker techie reported, "We have full visual of the battlefield."

"Excellent job, Sergei." A furry creature wearing a suit and bowtie, no more than a meter tall spoke in perfect English. "It would be a shame if our systems suddenly broke down. You have my thanks!"

"You're welcome, Principal Patches, sir!" the technician responded in kind.

The small cat-bear-mouse-dog cleared his throat, and smiled. "Now, pay attention to the exam, heroes and teachers! I have a good feeling about this year's batch."

There were hundreds of screens strewn across the room, and the technicians did a good job keeping the action focused around ten screens. For some reason, one screen kept Yagi's attention, and he cycled through them intently, focusing on a boy with batons running through the streets.

 _Izuku Midoriya, that was your name, huh?_

It had taken Yagi a moment to recall where he'd seen the face and name, but the candidate was definitely one that stood out him. While most of the reporting over the summer incident was on Endeavor, Yagi had always been someone who sought out the best of humanity. He had to, given the myriad of depraved scumbags and downright terrifying examples of human cruelty he had to put down over the years. When he saw a young boy, posed in a viral photo that reminded him so much of himself, with the weight of humanity itself written across his young smile. Yagi had taken note.

Now, much to Yagi's surprise, the boy had rushed out of the gates in Battle Zone B and gone on to both capture the first set of villain points in the exam, along with the first set of rescue points in a rather clear-cut case of classic, altruistic, heroism. That definitely drew Yagi's attention.

"Mister Toshinori?"

"Yes, Principal?"

"I see that you've taken interest in that particular examinee," the furry creature pointed at the screen in question with one short, white finger."

"Indeed," Yagi answered, "The boy has shown…much character. I take it you remember the incident with Yansi Hong losing control of his fire this summer because of Sickle?"

"Of course, every last detail. I don't miss much after all" Patches answered, sipping at his tiny coffee cup. "As far as I am concerned, the boy is just one of many promising applicants in this year's pool. I do hope we shall see more of him, but character alone will not be enough for our fine institution. Perhaps, he is a worthwhile candidate for something else entirely?"

The number of people in the room who knew his secret could be counted on one hand, and thankfully, nobody paid second mind to him, the scrawny, emaciated-looking Eurasian man lurking along the edges with a brown suit. As far as they were concerned, he was Yagi Toshinori, just another technician supporting a building full of semi-retired heroes slated for the Hall of Fame.

No-one would suspect Yagi Toshinori was All Might, All-American hero, and the Symbol of Peace. Given how he had his father's surname and how starkly different his voice and form was when he wasn't using One For All, it was a small blessing that he could go incognito by deactivating his power. It was another greater blessing that One For All had worked in such a way to preserve his physique in his prime while activated, so that he could hide his deteriorating health and spiraling descent towards mortality from the public. Patches was just one of few people...bears, cats, dogs, mice? That knew the truth.

The principal turned in his seat, and displayed a large, dark-skinned heteromorph with six arms and an extra set of eyes. The boy was using his quirk as a sort of sonar ability, hunting down and ambushing robots.

"Four other skills come to the forefront. Insight - skills and abilities to grasp situations quickly and accurately are probably the most important."

The next screen focused on the boy with the exhaust pipes in his legs. The same one Midoriya had saved out of the gate.

"Speed and agility, the ability to arrive on time and disengage will have a variety of uses in any situation."

The screens changed again, and a blonde boy shooting a blue-white beam out of his stomach appeared on screen. The boy carefully gauged the alleys around him for ambushes, and turned, blowing away a three-pointer and two ambushing two-pointers with his navel laser.

"Judgement, the ability to face obstacles with composure."

The final screen displayed an image of an Asian boy with bleached hair, standing atop a small mountain of robots. The boy wore a grin that just screamed that he was enjoying the carnage he was wreaking on the robots. A quick glance at the 'villain points' leaderboard identified him as Katsuki Bakugou. The boy had captured nearly half the aggregate points in Battle Zone A alone, but it was only about five minutes into the exam and only time would tell if he could keep up the pace.

"Oh and of course, raw Combat prowess is extremely valuable. These are the fundamental abilities that are required to handle the more dangerous denizens of our society."

One of the judges gasped, and Yagi turned his gaze to the primary screens. The boy he'd been tracking, Izuku Midoriya, was caught by a three-pointer on the chest while rounding a corner and sent tumbling down the street. However, he landed clean, but he'd dropped one baton and was clutching his ribs in pain.

"Don't suppose the kid's got a plan?" Cementoss's deep voice rumbled through the room.

"Doubt it," Ectoplasm drawled in response. "It seems like the applicant hasn't been using his quirk, whatever it is. Once our colleague cuts loose with the Type D, he'll be in a whole world of pain."

"What kind of quirk does the kid use, anyway?" Midnight asked curiously.

"The kid registered as quirkless on his application" Cementoss deadpanned, bringing his profile up on a screen. "Kid's got some pretty nifty gadgets though, wonder which support company his parents or tutors bought them from. I could use a couple of tinkertech upgrades myself. Gotta have to say it takes balls to try and make it with support gear and no quirk, though."

"Are you freaking serious?! That young man is quirkless?! Midnight all but screamed, "To think there'd be somebody who would actually participate in the practical without a quirk and do as well as he has… That hasn't happened in decades! How youthful!"

"Stupid, if you ask me" a silhouette muttered from the shadows, a single eye glowing with contempt.

 _Quirkless?_ Yagi mentally exclaimed.

Even HE hadn't been quirkless when he had applied to UA. His master had granted him One For All, which he'd mastered well enough to use to get through his version of the practical. He still shuddered, thinking about the Type C's in his exam, which were flyers that tossed glass shrapnel at examinees. The mannequins were relatively kind in comparison.

Suddenly, the door opened with a click, and the denizens of the room all turned their heads at once. The silhouette of a tall woman was there in the shadows, and she fumbled with the door.

No. Way.

"Who the hell are you?" Midnight demanded.

"Hello!" the figure greeted, before stepping out of the shadows. It was a young, bespectacled woman with a blue suit and scarab pin, and it took Yagi a second to realize where he'd seen her.

It'd been the better part of three decades, and she hadn't changed a bit since the last time he'd seen her. No, there was no way it could possibly be her. She was too young, for one, but she was a perfect match for the woman he remembered from his childhood.

"I know I haven't shown up to one of these in a while…better part of a few years, or a dozen. Figured I'd spent enough time on the bench now, though. Don't worry, Midnight, my credentials check out."

She held up a badge, and Midnight snatched the badge out of her hand for closer inspection.

Sweeping her gaze across the room, her eyes landed on Yagi's own, and her eyes lit up with recognition. Smiled a full smile with her eyes.

Yup, it was definitely her. Yagi already knew even without looking that the contents written on it would probably let her into any administrative office in any U.A branch in the world.

"Hey Yagi, it's been a while. Mind if I watch?"

He looked around the room in disbelief. The only people that seemed to really react at all to her presence were Yagi himself and the principal, but it was a face and voice that Yagi could never forget.

One that brought back far too many painful memories from when he was a plucky sidekick, especially when he considered her rather close relationship to his long-departed master, and the power that he watched over.


	17. Interlude: Does Anything That A ---- Can

**Interlude: Does Anything That A ... Can**

* * *

 **Chapter Theme - You Can Become A Hero**

* * *

 **Battle Zone C**

 **"AAAND...BEGIN!"**

The proctor's voice broke her meditative flow, instantly snapping her eyes open. She pushed off her haunches, launching herself into the air and soaring over the array of other prospective students. Red, white, blue, pink, purple. All the other candidates were blurs to her as she cleared most of the crowd, rushing past all but the fastest as the steel gate drew open. Landing inches into the exam area, she pushed off immediately, landing on the rooftops. She jumped again, going to a rooftop, and another, and another.

 _Less competition if I go out of the way. I'm faster and stronger than most of the competition, although probably not in the upper echelons if speed and strength alone are considered. Combined however…_

*Scratch scratch*

Her head snapped towards a faint sound below, and her eyes landed on a drone stalking in the shadows. With a flex of her chest muscles, her tongue shot out like a bullet, wrapping around a nearby mailbox.

She exploded off her legs, jumping to the rooftop over, and the mailbox was ripped out of the ground by the pendulum-like motion. Like a whip, her tongue snapped down the street, and the mailbox slammed into the robot with a satisfying crunch, sending it crashing into a wall across the street.

 _"Two villain points awarded"_ her armband chimed.

" **Ribbit.** "

Her tongue snapped back into her throat, and she spat out the chunks of debris that stuck to her tongue as she withdrew it back into her throat. Confidence welled up from within – she could do this. She would make all the hard work and loneliness leading up to this pay off.

A popping noise drew her attention from where she was propped on the roof, and she leapt into the air as a squad of three trooper drones began to open fire. Her aim was true, and she felt a recoil as both her feet impacted against the Type A's chest. The remaining two swiveled their weapons at her, but she kicked off the first drone's chest, jumping towards a nearby building's wall and avoiding the gelled projectiles.

With a powerful kick, she pushed off, and slammed both legs into another drone while wrapping her tongue around the torso of the final opponent. She tossed the final one with as much power as she could upwards, and allowed herself the satisfaction of watching the mechanoid fly through the air and crumple into a heap across the street.

 _Five points. You can do this, Froppy!_

She heard a noise from behind, like a can being opened by a can opener, and suddenly, a cold, metallic object slammed in her back as she stared down the street. Her vision blurred and spun as she tumbled forward, struggling to regain a footing. She spared herself a look backwards, and saw a fifteen foot tall tank-like construct with a metal arm extended in a slapping motion.

It was a three-point villain. She had planned on avoiding those, but she had been surprised by the sheer amount of mobility it had. It had twin water cannons, and military-grade treads. Targeting arrays glimmered in the sunlight as the tank-sized monstrosity swiveled its riot control cannons on her.

Still dizzy from the slap, she began to hop backwards, only to trip over the broken body of the Type A she had just eliminated. With a loud 'WRYYYYY', the tank-sized monstrosity began to charge directly at her, fist extended and pressure visibly building on its front cannons. Desperately, she clawed backwards, scrambling to try and get on her feet. This wasn't good. She was already disoriented, and a powerful hit could send her spiraling into unconsciousness.

 _No! It couldn't end here! All these years. All the sacrifice._

*CRA-THOOM*

A loud, thunderous explosion echoed down the street, and the thick, acrid scent of ozone filled the air as she slowly pulled herself up into a seated position.

"Ribbit…" she croaked weakly. The test had barely begun, and she was worried to find that she was already bleeding from the lips, with a few scrapes to boot.

"Hey! Sup!" an enthusiastic voice called out, running up to her. "You aren't looking too gnarly there, my dude."

Her eyes wandered up, and a cheerful, blonde boy with a black and white track suit and matching black highlights in his hair smiled confidently at her. The charred wreck of the three-point villain was sizzling behind him, and no other enemies were in sight.

"Sorry about the kill steal, but it really looked like you needed a hand there."

"That's alright, and thanks" she answered, "It's appreciated."

"Just chillax for a few, froggy girl, okay? We've got plenty of time, but don't wait too long."

Yeah…plenty of time. Her head should stop spinning in a second, anyway.

Her savior crouched to eye level, and extended his hand.

"Name's Christopher Thorsson, but you can call me Chip. Not sure where that came from, but it's stuck. It kinda fits, especially with a quirk like mine. I mean, can you imagine being used as a human charging station? It's insulting, sometimes."

A powerful one to boot. Much cooler than being born as a frog-morph, to be perfectly honest.

"Tsu," she replied flatly, taking his hand with a firm grip. "Call me Tsu."

"Damn. That's a bodacious name" the blonde boy grinned. "Let's be friends if we see each other across the finish line, 'aight?"

And then he took off, leaving Tsu to regain her wits as the large automaton sizzled nearby.

" **Ribbit.** "

 _Friend…?_

Even after befriending Mongoose, the idea of having real friends was still strange to her.

-oooo-

This was it, the big day.

Tsu exhaled. Fourteen years, countless hours, one day. One day that would decide her prospects as a hero. This was it. Not a couple of days after her birthday – the U.A entrance exams.

She could barely focus as the famous hero, Present Mic, went over the parameters of the exam. Her parents had kept her stranded at home with nothing but study material and exercise equipment for months, but really, it didn't bother her, and she welcomed it to an extent. Being grounded let her focus entirely on preparing for this exam, after all, and she needed the distractions out of her life. Tsu had banked far too many of her dreams and emotions on grasping that unattainable goal.

Someone a couple of aisles over in the auditorium was muttering a low, but steady stream of gibberish that would have been annoying any day of the week. It was practically a non-factor for her right now though. Her racing heartbeat did a good job of drowning out the otherwise distracting muttering, and she tuned him out, listening intently to Present Mic.

"…Our exam kit also includes protectives goggles, if you are worried about the projectile splash from the Type A villains. If things get a little too dicy in there, you can toggle the option of retreating from the exam with a minute delay. On the other hand, if for some reason you are rendered unconscious or grievously injured, you will be retrieved from the field by U.A staff with half your score retained, so don't be afraid to go all out if it makes sense! Any questions?"

"Excuse me sir, but I have a question!"

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic shouted as he pointed to the teen, and the room's spotlight settled on him.

"On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, but you have only covered three on the screen! With all due respect, if this is a misprint on official materials UA, then it is SHAMEFUL! We, the examinees in this room, are exemplary students here because we wish to be molded into heroes and we expect the best from the world's best school. A mistake like this simply just won't do."

"AND YOU! With the unkempt hair!"

The muttering abruptly stopped.

"Me?" I heard a familiar voice answer curtly. The kid who was addressed stood up to meet the gaze of the kid with glasses.

She finally recognized the source of the muttering – Izuku Midoriya, of all people, in the flesh.

 _Izuku is in this exam too?! Figures he would try to be a hero too. I hadn't even had the chance to get in touch since the incident…_

Tsu had trained to the point of obsession, all for making her dreams of becoming an amazing superhero come true. She shouldn't have been surprised that the strange boy she had shared a momentary spotlight with would try to become a hero as well. There was something, just something about him that was…different from most of the people she had met over her short life. It was a nice coincidence that they were part of the same cohort, potentially. She needed to worry about herself, first and foremost, but she would be secretly rooting for his success too.

 _Because he was a friend_ …

-oooo-

 _"Eww!" the little boy exclaimed, backing away. "Tsuya-er,-ranayan-a ah whatever, toad girl has a snake in her mouth!"_

 _Snake? Several eyes in the first grade classroom quickly turned to face her as their teacher got settled in preparing her lesson plan._

 _"Is it true?"_

 _"Nah" she replied, shaking her head in confusion. "What are you guys are talking about?"_

 _She opened her mouth wide, and pointed at her mouth, "Shree? Nro shrnake"_

 _"EWWWWWWW GROSS" several kids shrieked._

 _A girl, Madison jabbed a finger in the direction of the meter-long mass splayed out across my desk._

 _"'irs mah tongue" she whined indignantly, pulling her tongue back in with embarrassment._

 _The burning she had begun to feel in her cheeks spread, and her entire body felt hot, flushed from the ridicule. "I was born like this!"_

 _Her classmates' faces ranged from outright disinterest, to confusion and disgust. Six year old Tsu's eyes darted around the room, looking for ANYONE who would speak out for her._

 _"Ew, her eyes! They're all bulgy" another kid whispered._

 _"I-it's my family! It's a quirk! I c..can't really control how it manifests." She wailed, tears streaking from her eyes. "I can't he- **RIBBIT**!"_

 _She pulled her disproportionately sized, frog-morph hands to her mouth a moment too late. The croak resonated across the classroom, and she knew that it may as well have been her requiem. Cruel laughter spread across the classroom, and she knew she was finished. The teacher wouldn't ever be able to get this under control._

 _"That's enough!" her teacher barked over the teasing, but nobody, including Tsu, was listening._

 _She had to get out. She had to run. She had to leave, get away. It was too much. Every laugh stabbed at her heart. It wasn't fair…Surely someone would help? Someone would speak for her…_

 _It would be many years until someone ever did._

 _-oooo-_

Streets whipped by as she jumped from building to building, and her large eyes scanned over the roads below. Less than ten minutes had gone by in the exam, and the streets were already ruined. Debris was everywhere, and shattered glass lined the streets. Her tongue looped around the neck of a stray one-pointer, and she pulled it in close, meeting it with a flying knee. The knee landed true, caving in the torso of the Type A villain.

She jumped, avoiding a rapid fire burst of gel rounds, landing atop the head of another one-pointer, smashing it with another kick using her powerful legs. She jumped again, smashing a second one in turn. Her tongue darted out, grabbing onto a fallen beam, and she whipped it around, smashing it through another Type B robot's optical display, and then whipped it around towards another attempting to sneak up on her. Just like that, eight points gathered. She needed to keep up the pace though, there was no telling how she was stacking up against the rest of the competition.

"Oh hell no! Let's get the fuck out of here!" she heard a red-skinned boy shout, dashing around a corner with three other participants in tow.

The ground behind him shook as a burst of water splashed out behind him, signifying the presence of a type C villain.

"Help! Someone! Anybody! We're pinned down!" a frantic shriek echoed out from the direction of the water cannon.

The three-pointers were really time-inefficient to bring down, if at all. They were probably designed to pose the greatest individual "finishing" threat to examinees.

 _But if I wanted to be a hero…_

The wide corners of her large mouth twitched as her hands balled into fists.

With another jump, she hopped onto the wall around the corner, and jumped off it to the opposing building in the alleyway. She jumped off the wall again, and landed into the open street.

A small field of villains were immobilized by countless purple blobs, and where they weren't buried in adhesive blobs, they were partially melted. Perched over a building across the zone however, was a large, type C villain variant, with four water cannons trained on a pair hiding behind cover. Surrounding them in buildings, several squads of three or four type A villains fired on them with gel rounds, suppressing them to keep them from moving safely. Another smaller type C variant with larger arms skated on treads, moving to flank the pair trapped behind cover.

 _"Everything will be alright now," the boy spoke from next to her, cooing the infant in her crib. "Why? Because we're here!"_

"Oh what the fuck!" a pink-skinned girl whimpered as a water cannon landed nearby, bending and ripping a lamp post out of the ground.

There was a small, prepubescent Asian boy next to her. His head was comb of growths shaped like large grapes, which reminded Tsu of a purple rooster.

"Please, oh god I can't die here, I'm still a virgin! Hey Mina, can I grab your boobs? Just once? This world be too cruel if I died before I could experience the rawest pleasures of a woman!"

"Fuck off, Cody!" the pink-skinned girl growled. "One, I barely know you. Two, we have much bigger problems to worry about. Such as getting out of this mess."

Tsu could have let them deal with the situation on their own. Her powers were ill-suited to dealing with heavy armor such as Type Cs.

 _An image flashed through her mind. A brave boy with nothing but her family's fire extinguisher, boldly rushing ahead into the flames._

…but what was a hero but someone who was there to help when someone desperately needed help, in any way that they could?

 _You'd better be doing alright wherever you are, Izuku Midoriya._

With a loud croak, she burst from the side alley, landing leg first on the Type C moving to flank and knocking it over. The Type A villains immediately attempted to draw a bead on her, and she jumped to the side, sticking to a building and grabbing on to the base of a water tower over a squad of Type A villains.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Ribbit."

She pulled.


	18. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Everybody has a plan until they're punched in the face. I'd learned that pretty quickly while training in basic martial arts over the last ten months.

" **[EXAMINEE TWO-TWO-THREE-FOUR SPOTTED. MOVING TO INITIATE]"**

In this case, it was less getting punched in the face, and more a torrent of pressurized water that could knock a grown adult off his feet. The fact that the weather was a hair's breadth above freezing, no less, didn't help my situation at all.

I scrambled, picking up my baton and stumbling to my feet, and quickly sprinted across the street as the Type C's loud, robotic voice reverberated down the street. Ducking a second water jet aimed at me, I followed through on the momentum and side-rolled into a perpendicular open street, out of its line of sight.

 **"[ENGAGING PURSUIT]"**

I heard a distinct whirring noise, signifying that the ten-foot tall mechanized monstrosity was in hot pursuit. The frigid water that clung to my exercise clothes dragged me down, and it was a small blessing that the sprinting distance to the corner had been relatively short. If I'd been intercepted by one of those things while I was walking out in the open, I would have been in some serious trouble.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I mentally mapped out the angle the Type C would approach me from the far end of the street, and hopped in place for a second to warm myself up. I prepared myself as I heard the Type C's approaching on its treads, and breathed heavily, doing my best to calm my nerves.

 _The exam proctors are willing to rough us up, but these drones are firmly set on non-lethal. I need to scope them out to figure out how to shut them down._

" **[TARGET ACQUIRED]"**

Immediately as the mechanoid rounded the corner, its two water cannons swiveled on me. I was too close to get an angle, and I hopped to the side around it as it tried to turn to track me. With the floor now soaked in water, I rushed in, staying out of its line of fire.

Two mechanical arms extended from its tank-like chassis, and its torso quickly rotated at me in an open-handed strike.

But it was too slow, too lumbering, and I slipped underneath the arm, dropping into a slide along the wet ground which put me firmly underneath it.

 _There!_

I caught a glimpse of a glass case, and I jammed one of my batons at it from a looping angle while sliding by. My baton went clean through, slamming into the button, and I cringed a bit as I felt a bit of the glass bounce off my goggles. I twisted forward, kicking my legs out to end up behind it. With a pained, whirring crunch, the Type C ceased to move.

 _Whew._

With the Type C functionally shut down, I could continue forward in the exam. I had only racked up around 20 points so far, mostly in Type As, and I needed to hurry.

I turned around to leave, but all of a sudden, I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end. Following a gut instinct, I whirled around with my batons crossed, only to block a mechanical palm strike that had been aimed at the back of my head.

"ARGH!"

The weight of the lumbering machine was rippled down my arms and I was thrown clean through the air. I twisted, dropping my batons and splayed out, rolling the momentum down my arm as I tumbled backwards.

" **[TARGET ACQUIRED]"**

 _Oh, crap._ Its armaments trained on me as I attempted to regain my balance, and the pumps behind the cannons begin to visibly swell.

I was in the open and there was no cover in sight. I was about to take its water cannon full force.

 ** _~Art of SÉDUCtion!~_**

A boy's voice cried out behind me in a…singsong mix of English and French? The air whistled, and a gust of wind spun up around me as a thick, blue-ish white ray that _sparkled_ slammed into the Type C villain from a diagonal angle. The beam continued to pour out for another second, and a charred smell filled the air as a hole was burned clear through the machine. Without the slightest sound, the machine simply stopped moving.

My armband chimed, _"Partial shutdown credited. One Villain Point Awarded."_

I turned around towards my savior's voice, and took a moment to look him once over. The boy was blonde haired with dark blue eyes that were borderline purple in depth. His arms were folded behind his head in a flamboyant pose, and he was wearing an embroidered cardigan sweater over...a lacy, cuffed dress shirt? At the center of the sweater, there was a large, crystal-like structure overlaid where his belly button would be.

"H-h-holy crud! T-thanks" I stammered, heart pounding from that close call. Even if I'd pulled out one of my trump cards, I didn't think I could have made it out of that in one piece without that save.

Well, I had _two_ aces up my sleeve, but one was highly limited and the other…well, I wasn't going to use the black box in an exam that'd decidedly been set to non-lethal. My mentor had given it to me in good faith, rightfully assuming I wouldn't pull out what was inside until the time was right.

"Pas de problème _,_ my shabbily dressed fellow. You appeared to be a tad troubled, and _**L'Extraordinaire**_ Beaumont has answered your cries for aid!"

 _Shabbily dressed? This is a physical exam!  
_  
I coughed, shivering from the cold now that the adrenaline was leaving my system, "Uh, anyway, thanks for that save. It would've been hard to continue on if that thing had hosed me down clean and chilled me like a popsicle."

"No worries, mon ami. Well, I'll be on my way, then. Perhaps we shall see each other again! Bonne chance!"

With a sashay of his hips, the blonde boy who took out the Type C villain rushed off down an alleyway.

 _What an interesting guy. The whole sprinkling his sentences with French thing is kinda weird, though…_

Still, it wasn't every day that a guy saved you from getting taken out with a freaking gut laser, and I wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.

-oooo-

I ran.

I ran and I ran.

Rushing up the stairs towards two squads pinning down a boy cowering behind a translucent green dome. I spun, delivering the momentum of my dash on a spinning back kick on the back of a Type A. I followed the momentum, and shoulder checked the Type A next to it, causing both to fall off the building.

The third member of the squad turned to train its gel gun on me, and I jumped left to the side and hopped off the wall, evading its clumsy burst. I threw what little weight I had into an overhand baton swing, toppling its balance again and tossing it off the edge.

A strong breeze passed over my body, and I shivered from the cold.

Although we were in a building two floors above ground, there was a sharp draft and the building wasn't insulated in the slightest. As pretty as the buildings looked from the outside, it was clear that this miniature city had been constructed as a training zone for U.A. A good number of the "windows" and balconies opened up completely, giving the Type As room to rain gel rounds down us.

It was pretty impressive that some of the retrofitted apartment buildings had electricity and running water, though. The bill to maintain this place must have been staggering.

I snaked through the floor on the three-story building the two squads had taken positions on, and sharply push-kicked another Type A that was still unaware of my presence off the ledge. Both remaining Type A villains had noticed my presence now, and one was quickly rushing towards me as the other drew a heavy foamed night stick.

The charging Type A villain twirled its baton, and swung it in a quick, wide, and powerful arc. Too wide, unfortunately. Even a rank amateur practitioner like me could see that.

I stepped into the strike, parrying the night stick with my own baton, and grabbed onto the humanoid's helmed head. The robots had basic hand to hand technique programmed into them, but despite the SWAT-influenced design, they weren't exactly dangerous in close quarters compared to the type Bs. Nor were they firmly balanced for that matter.

The villain whirred and buzzed noisily, but I ignored it and jammed my baton up sharply, smashing through the glass and deactivating it. Once again, I used another Type A as a human shield and closed the distance, charging through the barrage of gel rounds and slamming into the final Type A.

I glanced out the window, the boy with the forcefield had disappeared in the, and I took a moment to slack against the wall next to it, breathing heavily. I had taken my share of bruises and microfractures, and I wasn't sure how long I could still keep this up for.

 **"20 minutes! 20 minutes have elapsed! Keep up the hustle, kids!"** Present Mic's voice boomed over the battlefield.

The last ten minutes had been pretty uneventful, all things considered. I'd managed to get the drop on a couple more squads of Type As, as well as a Type B that was the middle choking a blonde girl with flaming eyes conscious. I had also actually managed to get the drop on another Type C, and figured out that it didn't just have one kill switch, but _three._ Apart from sneaking past another Type C and counter-attacking two attempted ambushes from the mannequin robots, I hadn't encountered any serious danger since. I'd learned pretty quickly to check my corners before proceeding, thanks to the first Type C I'd encountered.

With my momentum going strong, I had managed to tally up a grand total of 51 villain points. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure I was nowhere near the top. I had taken too many detours rescuing people who were pinned down or in trouble, and I was beginning to feel the fatigue. We were graded on an independent basis, but it still felt wrong to leave people to hang dry if they needed help.

Taking a minute to catch my breath, I made my way downstairs, and back down into the streets.

"Help! HELP! ANYBODY"

…And then I heard it again, the sound of someone in need. The cry for a hero.

-oooo-

"Damn, you really weren't kidding, boss. This year's batch is really sumtin' else" Cementoss muttered.

The principal sipped at his cup, nodding in response. "Indeed. Due to the fact that the exam formats are often set up as a competition, only a handful of the finalists ever earn significant rescue points. Rarer still, are the examinees that go out of the way to assist each other, although only self-interest, apathy, and greed ever prevent them from doing so. For that reason, a single rescue from a dangerous that is befitting of a _true_ hero is worth considerably more than the villain itself."

 _Color me impressed_! Yagi thought. Of the 70 students leading the scoreboard, at least 20 of them had hero points that made up at least a quarter of their points. And then, there was…

Yagi's gaze shifted towards a screen off the center, where a boy snuck up on one of several Type A squads pursuing a young brunette girl and silently dismantled the squad..

Unknowingly following his train of thought, Midnight yawned with an allure only she could possess, and gestured towards the screen that was tracking Izuku Midoriya.

"THAT young man has managed to hang in the lower end of the upper quartile in villain takedowns, despite not having a quirk. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be nearly enough to pass, but he's managed to stay firmly in the cusp of the top 40 with all the rescue points he's racked up. He drops below 40 every time he detours to save people, but the Hero points always bump him right back into the top 5 in his Battle Center."

Midnight shivered ecstatically, "Such youth! Such virtue! We haven't seen such heroism and chivalry in a crop of prospectives in years!"

"I'll say," Snipe agreed. "I guess we're finally seeing the fruits of the Silver Age blossom."

The principal passed Yagi a knowing glance, and he smiled back awkwardly.

Power Loader turned towards the rest of the faculty and bellowed, "Anyone else want to join on the betting pool? Anyone think we're 'gonna finally have a Quirkless manage the top 40 this year?"

The teachers, assorted faculty members, and guests simply stared at Power Loader again. Yagi had silently taken the wager, hoping that his gut instinct about the kid was right, and so had Ectoplasm and Eraserhead. Both were far from Quirkless, but they were a lot more mundane in how they operated than other Heroes. Most of the faculty, including the Hound, had taken the bet against any of the quirkless examinees passing. From what he gathered, the idea of a quirkless student eventually being admitted had become a bit of a meme to the faculty.

The woman in the blue suit, the one who _claimed_ to be a representative of U.A's central administration suddenly stepped up, slapping some bills on Power Loader's desk.

"I'll take it. Have me down for Izuku Midoriya passing with flying colors."

Power Loader shrugged, "Alright then! Although I'm rootin' for the kid, it's your funeral miss...erm"

"Brown. Alexandria Taylor Brown, you can call me Taylor, Alexandria, Administrator Brown, or Mrs. Brown. Whichever you prefer."

She grinned at Power Loader, and shook his hand firmly, cementing the introduction.

Yagi quirked an eyebrow at that introduction. _Fascinating. 'Alexandria' 'Brown' huh? At least she's…a lot less gloomy than I remembered as a kid._

"Hmm!" Principal Patches mused, sniffing the aroma from his cup before opening one eye to look at 'Alexandria' knowingly. "I suppose our quirkless examinee is stirring quite the interest in more than just our staff and faculty, huh?"

There was no telling what went through the Principal's head, really. It was easy to miss through the overwhelming theatrics of his All Might persona, but not only was he the strongest cape in the world during his prime, he also had one of the sharper minds in the Heroing business.

Having quick wits could only take a guy so far, however. He was just smart enough to know that the Principal had just figured something out about Taylor, but whatever it was, Yagi had no idea. Yagi was also smart enough to know that the principal one of the most incomprehensibly intelligent creatures on the planet, and that had probably already walked through Yagi's entire thought process half a minute before the thought came.

 **"SHINEEEEEEEEHHHHH!"**

A snarling voice cut over the speakers, which was subsequently followed by a series of explosions reverberating around their speakers. Yagi winced as well over a dozen monitors cut to static.

"Seriously?" Taylor a drawled, palming her face. "I really, REALLY hope for everyone's sake that this kid is just going through a fucking phase."

The principal flashed a small, foxlike smirk and continued to sip at his cup.

-oooo-

 **"DIE."**

Katsuki panted with a hand outstretched. The fragmented pieces of the robots that dared to attack him continued to fall from the sky, and if Katsuki had to be honest, he was having a friggin **_blast_.**

"SHI-NNNNNNNNNEEEEHH!"

And another. This…now THIS was what he lived for, not rotting in some dump of a public middle school.

 ***KA-BOOM***

Stronger and stronger explosions emitted from his arm, and the recoil left him aching with pain. Still, he felt more alive than he had in a good while. The dwindling embers rushed past him, billowing in the wind. He'd lost count of the number of robots he'd destroyed by now, but it didn't matter.

Katsuki had continuously thrown himself into the heaviest concentrations of enemies he could find, and had virtually bulldozed through every group in seconds. They were tuned well enough to give him a mild challenge, which was nice, but he was really relishing in the fact that he was leaving the worthless stragglers struggling along behind in in the dust.

He aimed both palms behind him, firing off another explosion, launching himself to another Type C that had found him thanks to the large amount of noise he was making. The robot trained its water cannons on him, but it wouldn't matter, he was motherfucking Katsuki Bakugou.

 **[EXAMINEE TWO T-]**

"GET BENT, FUCKFACE!"

Katsuki lunged forward, grabbing onto the center of mass of the tank-like robot. With a click of his hand, he blew away the entire midsection of the Type C villain. His gaze swept over the battlefield and the mountain of scrap metal he'd left behind. A dozen more Type Bs were rapidly closing in the distance.

He shot his right arm to the side, giving himself a bit of angular momentum with an explosion that simultaneously launched him into the air. Twisting his hips, he followed into the rotation and fired off explosions in every direction.

 **"** Die **!** DIE **! DIE!"**

-oooo-

"Rerouting camera nodes. Visual link has been re-established" Sergei reported.

"Jesus Christ…that kid's gonna be a monster when he gets older…" Snipe commented. The rest of the room stared in disbelief at the sheer firepower the thirteen year old boy could dish out.

"Hopefully not for the worse" Taylor dryly remarked, before turning to the principal. "You're employing Tara to deploy the Variant 3 Type-D this cycle, correct?"

"Correct, Mrs. Brown" the principal answered, beckoning Taylor over to where he and Yagi sat.

Patches leaned in, lowering his voice until it was barely audible to Yagi. "There is something that I have always wondered, though. Wherever did you draw the inspiration for your portion of the challenges from, Administrator Brown? They are remarkably difficult, and clearly toned down from their source material. However, I have never been able to scour villains matching these descriptions even from scanning Clearance Level Seven archives."

She shrugged, doing her best to put on a facetiously clueless expression. "I haven't the slightest clue about what you're talking about, Patches."

"Of course, of course" the principal chittered, barely able to contain excitement. "It's just something I've always wondered. I am rather young for human standards, you know, and investigating our history simply opens more questions whenever one is answered. It is rare to receive a visit from an esteemed individual, and I have far too many questions that I would like answers for. I have already deduced that you have had a hand in the creation of this particular set of the exam rotation, and I would love to chat about the current state of affairs."

 _"It would be my pleasure to sit down and discuss it over tea at some point"_ Taylor whispered. _"But for now, let's get back to the exam."_

"Tara is almost in position!" one of the techs finally declared.

"Excellent" the furry principal proclaimed, "Then, let the real exams begin!"


	19. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

 **Izuku**

I stayed low, quietly moving up a ramp that led to the plaza above. I listened carefully for movement, and not a later, I heard the screech of mechanical legs and treads shuffling along the road. From the way it sounded, the villain bots were moving to flank the examinee that had cried out for help, and I quickly flattened myself against the wall as they came to a halt above me.

 **[EXAMINEES HAVE ENTERED LOT NINE-TWO-THREE. EXECUTING PROTOCOL SEVEN-SEVEN-FOUR] a** Type-C rumbled.

 **[PROCEED** **TO ENTRY: ENGAGE URBAN SUPPRESSION** **MANEUVERS]**

 **[AFFIRMATIVE]** a squad of type-A villains spoke in unison.

Filing away the fact that there were _multiple_ examinees in trouble, I began to plan. I had counted two Type-Cs, and seventeen Type-As on the way up. That was without even taking the patrolling squad I managed to take down into consideration, so somehow they had drawn a veritable horde upon themselves. Unless you had a quirk virtually geared towards heavy firepower like Kacchan, those were tall odds for inexperienced kids like us to take on.

I gripped my batons tightly, teeth chattering as the icy wind whipped around me. Honestly, the weather was proving to be a bigger challenge to me than the actual villain bots, but thankfully, it wasn't raining or snowing or anything. I'd dressed for the weather, but even so, it was ridiculously chilly outside. In any case, the Type As weren't really that much of a threat unless they could get clean angles on you, but the Type Cs could pack in a serious punch if you gave them any room at all.

I crept up the ramp until it opened up into a plaza, and sprinted low, zooming across a small open area to hide behind a hedge. There was a wide, three-story building at the end of the plaza, and I could see the Type-As positioning to enter from all the entrances. A single Type C watched over the exits to the building with its twin cannons.

I reached down, hooking one of my batons onto my utility belt, and pulled out a rod that was only a little bit longer than my natural grip. Stalking along the edge, I crept up behind the unsupported Type C villain with the device in hand.

The device only had capacity for about ten seconds' worth of power before it needed to be cleaned and recharged, and I had to use it sparingly in any situation. Seeing as the exam was about halfway over though, this was as good of a time as any to start making use of it.

Blissfully unaware – or as blissfully unaware as a virtual intelligence could be, the Type-C pivoted on its torso scanning and keeping watch over the zone. Creeping towards it from the hedges, I pushed myself onto a single knee and surged forward at it, ruffling the brush around me. It turned around, and immediately targeted me with its cannons.

"HAAA!"

With a sharp kiai, I flipped a switch on the rod and thrust the device in my hand forward. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the distance, and the Type-C's cannon fired off while I was still a yard or two away from it.

I breathed out sharply as my momentum carried me forward, and I feebly raised the rod in a defensive position. The device whirred, and something that looked like a compressed cloud of gray, translucent blurring growths surged forward into the shape of a machete. However, there was too much ground to cover, and I braced myself for the impact. If it wasn't too bad, I could recover and flee into the foliage to try for another angle when I was inevitably knocked down.

Instead, I simply gaped as the burst of water from the Type-C's cannons _vanished_ into a cloud of mist a series of distinct pops _._ I twisted my wrist and looped the handle around as the water parted around me, and the villain's upper half fell backwards as a jagged, diagonal line was simply carved through its armor and chassis with a loud pop.

 _Holy hell._

I stared down in disbelief at the gray, saber-like for a moment, before remembering the warnings I'd been its faulty power supply. I fumbled at it carefully, and clicked at the switch again. The ridiculously lethal device in my hand shut down, and the light-gray blur disappeared with an unceremonious whir.

No wonder I had been sworn to never use the Stinger on a living human being unless I was truly in a "kill or be killed" situation. Just who the hell was Taylor to have something like this?

The closer I'd gotten to the exams, the more questions had cropped up in my head about that lady. My search and investigation had yielded no answers so far, and for someone with an inquisitive and curious nature like me, it was seriously driving me nuts. I'd seen the effects of the Stinger demonstrated on a piece of plywood, but this was on an entirely new level. This thing had disintegrated a _torrent of water_.

Even if I had probably just burned through a third to half the power supply with that move, there was no hero or villain below the B-listI could think of that carried around gear like this.

As much of (admittedly) an obsessive cape geek as I was, I still had no idea who the woman who had taught me everything I knew was. She knew too much, was too good at everything, and had literal cutting-edge tinkertech that I'd never even seen or heard before. There weren't any major North American capes in the Silver Age who ran with a bug motif, so who exactly was Taylor Rose? If she didn't consider a ridiculously sharp short blade like this a true 'nuclear option', then what was sitting inside of the black box hidden in the corner of my room?

I pushed the conundrum into the back of my mind. It was a question that could be answered later, and I had some badly outnumbered examinees to rescue.

-PoV Shift-

"AHHHH!"

I flinched as a Type-B pounced on us out of nowhere, only to breathe a strained sigh of relief as my companion slapped it with a power-enhanced backhand. Almost comically, the mannequin robot was sent careening towards the roof of the tall, marble hallway.

"Release!" she yelled with a clap of her hands, and the automaton came crashing down to the floor with a sharp _clang_. The building we were in was kinda old, and by kinda, I mean VERY old. The second the Type-B made contact with the ground, the wooden floorboards shattered, and the villain went straight down through the floor in a shower of splinters.

The rosy-cheeked gravity user took a moment to gape at her handiwork, and what could I say? It really wasn't the time for that stuff. I could still hear the screech of mechanical limbs moving nearby, moving to pincer us in. Before either of us could react, three more Type-Bs had rounded the corner, and they were rapidly crawling towards us with creepy, doll-like movements straight out of a B-rated horror movie.

I grabbed onto the brunette who'd come to my aid, snapping her out of her daze.

"This way!" I shouted, dashing through a steel-reinforced wooden door with the rosy-cheeked gravity manipulator in tow. Without a moment of hesitation, I slammed the door, and pulled out my radiator gun, fumbling to set it on a lowish setting.

I huffed, sweating as I brushed my pigtails out of the way and raised up my invention to the doorknob. Pulling the trigger, a distortion shimmered in the air, which promptly melted the knob to slag. Several heavy bodies smashed into the door at once, but the door managed to hold against the impacts.

HA! I resisted an urge to laugh maniacally. It worked! Couldn't have asked for a better field test! HA!

My moment of excitement was short-lived, though, and I quickly remembered where I was, and just how badly outnumbered we were. Sharing a look with the gravity manipulator, we bolted away from the door and down another corridor.

 _Man_ , _how did you get into this mess, Penny?_

I'd only figured out how to really use my power recently, and hey, much to my surprise, I'd been given a recommendation to UA's Support course within weeks of setting up in my dad's workshop.

Honestly I shouldn't have been surprised, nor could I really blame them considering who my parents were. I'd made a couple of pretty gadgets in my dad's lab recently, which he never got tired of bragging about. Of COURSE the higher-ups in UA would hear about it, and if little Penny had even half the potential that _either_ the Audit or the Brain did (with heroic aspirations to boot!), I would've done my best to get her into the hero system right away. ESPECIALLY if I were some smelly old administrator sitting in a spinny chair.

But the Support Course? That was...to be perfectly honest, I didn't really know about that. My dad had started out with Support certifications, but later went on to get certified and become one of the greatest Tinker heroes the world had ever seen. I'd always looked up to him for a lot more than his illustrious science and hero career, and riding my parents' coattails all the way to UA felt cheap to me. It was a foregone conclusion, but at the very least I could make an effort at earning my stripes, no?

Pro heroes were people that were always kinda there for you to admire. They were a class of people like my dad that you really couldn't help but look up to, and I did always dream of becoming one. I just figured that I never had a superpower good enough to cut it as a hero. That is, until I'd figured out what my power actually did.

Of course it'd taken the better part of a decade, even with the help of the smartest Thinker and Tinker in the world, but hey, it was better late than never.

Even though I was already guaranteed a spot in the Support path, I wanted to take my shot at the Hero Course. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare, but I did my best.

I'd started off doing pretty well in the Hero exam. The Machine, which was currently wrapped around my wrist, could literally eat and reprocess any of the villains we ran into in under a minute, and a good high-powered burst with my heat gun made short work of the Type As and Bs.

There WERE a couple of problems though, including but not limited to the fact that:

1) I was a liiiittle too slow clearing the villains out, and I wasn't exactly in the best shape, nor did I really know how to fight.

2) I was woefully unprepared for dealing with more than one or two of those freaks at a time.

3) My inventions were really cool and could take these robots down, but...I kinda made a lot of noise doing so.

Any so, here I was. Running around in some sort of abandoned judicial office with a girl named after tea, fleeing from the mob of exam villains that had all but swarmed me. The only thing keeping me from being shamefully escorted out of this training zone by a proctor at this point was the bubbly brunette who'd come to my aid. I felt bad, really. This spunky girl deserved to be a hero more than most of the people I'd met through my parents who actually had certifications, and she was about to fail the exam because of me.

"Penny! Look out!"

I jolted as my companion crashed into me from behind, sending us both flying upwards at an angle. Not a moment later, the wall behind me caved in. I took a moment to look back behind me, and I gulped in apprehension as I spotted the red sheen of a Type-C's eye camera glowing from beneath the dust.

"Release!"

With both her arms wrapped around my torso, my companion twisted, spiraling us into a dive. Mere inches away from hitting the floor, I felt her reactivate her power, causing us to glide lazily through the air.

 _"Release..."_ she breathed again, gently dropping us to the ground.

I crawled to my knees and glanced behind us,desperately trying to calm my nerves and gulping for air. You know that feeling in safari documentaries where the wildebeest looked up to see what was approaching to maul it horribly? I was pretty sure that was what I looked like, panting and practically hyperventilating as more Type-As flooded into the opening created by the type C. The judicial building had opened up to some sort of auxiliary atrium with dusty round banquet tables, and we were at at least a couple of seconds away from any cover. The Type-As began to shuffle out into the atrium in a circular formation, prompting me to scramble over to check on my companion.

"Ugh..." the gravity manipulator moaned, looking a little green around the gills. Rats.

I looked back again towards the enemies pouring in through the breach. I could feel the inevitable bruises already, but I had to try _something,_ gosh darnit.

"Come on!" I shouted again, dragging her to her feet and pushing her ahead of me. With a grunt of effort, I threw my noodly arms up and toppled a table over.

A series of loud retorts echoed through the atrium, and I yelped as I felt a series of rock-hard projectiles slam into my ribs. For all the trouble I'd gone through of getting back to my feet, the combined force of the pellets rocked my balance, and I found myself stumbling and dropping behind the overturned table with my companion in tow.

Well crud, what are we gonna do now?

I winced, reaching down to nurse at the tender welts and bruises that had formed up beneath my clothing. I had way too much adrenaline pumping to really feel it right now, but that was going to become a real pain in the neck, and fast.

"We've gotta stand our ground" the gravity user whispered sharply, and I turned to look at her. The bubbly, perky demeanor of my rescuer had all but vanished, and there was a spark of fiery determination burning in her eyes.

"Alright," I gulped. "Any ideas?"

She opened her mouth to reply, and before she could say anything, I heard the sharp _crack_ of glass breaking. I turned towards the noise, and blinked in surprise as a metal canister came sailing through the air from thirty yards away. The canister spun upwards in an arc, before landing with a clank and rolling to a stop mere meters away from us.

"Wha?"

It was all I could eke out before we were enveloped in a thick, white smoke that oddly enough, wasn't astringent in the slightest. It smelled like water vapor almost like someone had thrown a "humidifier" grenade into the room.

I heard a series clangs, followed by the distinct "pops" of Type-As firing their weapons. I tensed up, readying my radiator gun to deal with whatever new threat had arrived, only to tense up as I heard the sound of glass breaking and a screeching skid behind me.

I whipped my arm around, aiming shakily shakily out of reflex. You'd think all those hours of gaming with Ray and Claire would have transferred over to improved hand-eye coordination, but alas.

"Shh..." An Asian kid stood a couple feet away from me, with a finger held to his lips. He was crouched on one knee, nursing his knee with a steel baton planted into the torso joint of a Type-B bot.

Strewn behind him, I could make out the silhouettes of about five Type-As that had their button punched, so to speak. Hah! I cracked myself up sometimes.

Bad Penny, bad. This wasn't time for terrible internal dad-joke monologues.

"Y-you!" My companion whispered, eyes wide in a mixed expression hope and disbelief.

"I er, I heard you guys screaming when I was passing by outside..." the newcomer muttered, looking up from where he stood.

He made eye contact with the gravity user, whose name I still didn't know, and his face flushed into a deep shade of crimson before he looked away.

Huh, wonder what that's all about. Did these two know each other?

"I thought you might have, umn, needed some help."

The rosy-cheeked gravity user sighed in relief, before relaxing and beaming at the newcomer with a sunny smile. He flinched, almost as he were about to duck a punch, but she didn't seem to notice. "Thank you! My power took care of them just fine up until now, but there were way too many to deal with alone this time. I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't jumped in on that group behind you. Thank you, erm..."

"Izuku. Izuku Midoriya, and umn, yeah. I'm here now, so uh, let's get you guys out of here. What are your names, anyway?"

He moved to stand up, and wobbled, stumbling a little over the mannequin. I reflexively leaned forward, grabbing onto his hand before he fell over. Hey, I liked this guy already in spite of the edgy entrance.

Doing my best to shove my nerves back down, with the clanging robots nearby and all, I pulled the Asian kid with the messy hair up with an awkward exaggerated smile plastered across my face.

"Name's Penelope. Penelope Justice Akk. You can call me Penny, though. Don't wear it out!"

I didn't know what pushed me to that level of cheese, but hey, this felt like the start of a beautiful friendship.

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I've been busy working on a project involving a technological solution to Big Telecom's regulatory capture problem here in the States, and this chapter took me wayyy too long to push out.

Some of you might recognize the character from the second half of the chapter, and I've gotta say it was always my intention to incorporate some more prose superhero fiction characters into this fanfic's universe .


End file.
